[MR] Wikipedia: Saint Valentine(s)

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

Today is/was the feast day of Saint Valentine. The "is/was" will be
explained shortly. So what does this 3rd century martyr have to do with the
SCA? Ah, Grasshopper, that is a tale.

To begin, Valentine of Terni is thought to have been a priest or bishop who
ministered to early Christians. He was martyred circa 269 CE. But there is
a problem here. According to Catholic Saints A to Z, the day actually
belongs to Saint Valentine of Rome. The Catholic site claims Saint
Valentine of Terni was offed circa 175 CE. Despite the confusion in dates,
they may actually be the same person, or not. In the end, both Saints were
honored on 14 February during the middle ages, and eventually were sort of
smooshed back together. Will the real Saint Valentine please ascend!

Apparently the modern Catholic Church couldn't sort this out, and in a
general clean-up of obscure saints in 1969, removed the feast day from
their calendar (it is now optional). However, Anglicans and Lutherans still
have Saint Valentine down for 14 February, thus the "is/was". To confuse
things even more, Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate Saint Valentine on 6
June and 30 July. Besides the 14 February Saint Valentine(s), the Catholic
Church is said by Wikipedia to have nine other Saint Valentines, though
Catholic Saints A to Z lists just six more. At least most of the others are
better documented and beyond confusion with the 14 February Valentine(s).
Whew!

The medieval connection comes with pilgrimages. Like many saints in the
middle ages, his/their relics were divided and scattered among several
churches to promote the faith and to popularize various pilgrimage
destinations. Saint Valentine's shrines were popular, if rather minor,
pilgrimage sites during our period of interest. Whether all of these
churches held "real" relics of either saint is a debatable question, but it
was a matter of faith during the medieval period, and really still is today.

For centuries the saint's principal relics were kept at the Basilica of
Santa Passade in Rome, but in the 18th century they were moved to Saint
Anton's church in Madrid (Santa Passade features the alleged column upon
which Christ was whipped, so their Valentine relics were surplus and sent
to Spain). The saint's skull, however, remains in Rome at the Church of
Santa Maria in Cosmedin. Other relics, including a second skull, are
scattered in churches all over Christendom. There are even some relics in
Glasgow.

The most interesting relics have been worshipped since the 19th century in
the Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland. The church is
still a modern pilgrimage destination where lovelorn Irish Catholics offer
prayers every 14 February.

While it sounds somewhat trite, besides betrothed couples Saint Valentine
is also the patron of greeting card manufacturers.

Here is the Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Valentine
.

Catholic Saints A to Z offers this bio sketch on Saint Valentine of Rome:
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-valentine-of-rome .

Compare that with their bio on Saint Valentine of Terni:
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-valentine-of-terni .

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆