Today is remembered in most parts of the world as a day to celebrate love, especially the romantic type. So love letters, lunch and dinner dates, exchanges of gifts, love declarations, love and marriage propositions and all manner of love expressions, including illicit ones, which are completely antithetical to the essence of Valentine’s Day, are part of the celebratory mix for many people.
There are, of course, several people who commendably mark today by reaching out to the poor and underprivileged with food, clothes and other necessities.
There are different accounts of the origin of Valentine’s Day. Some accounts have it that it emanated from the ancient Roman pagan festival of Lupercalia, held yearly on February 15 to celebrate the coming of spring and fertility. It involved animal sacrifice and drunken orgies. In the 5th century AD, Pope Gelasius was said to have outlawed the festival and replaced it with a Christian holiday in the name of Valentine’s Day.
In the Christian account, there is more than one identity for St Valentine and what he did. The Catholic Encyclopedia and other hagiographical sources speak of three Saints Valentine in connection with February 14. One was a Roman priest, another the bishop of Interamna (modern Terni, Italy) both buried along the Via Flaminia outside Rome, at different distances from the city. The third was said to be a saint who suffered on the same day with several companions in the Roman province of Africa, of whom nothing else is known.
There are, of course, other Saints Valentine, whose lives and deaths had nothing to do with February 14. About eleven other saints named Valentine are commemorated in the Catholic Church.
However, the St Valentine most closely associated with the present-day celebration of love is an Italian priest who was martyred on February 14 in the 3rd century AD by Claudius II.
He is regarded as the patron saint of lovers, people with epilepsy, and beekeepers, among other things.
St. Valentine was executed for defying the emperor’s order and secretly performing Christian weddings for couples, allowing the husbands involved to escape conscription into the Roman army. At the time, soldiers were in short supply, so this was a great inconvenience to the emperor, and the priest paid the supreme price when he was caught.
Love is a strong feeling of affection and concern. It is an essential element of human life. It can be expressed in many forms, including charity, sacrificial love (like that of Christ), agape love (God’s love to humans and vice versa), filial love (within family members), and erotic love, among others. There are negative expressions of love, such as infatuation, obsession, abuse and possessiveness, and emotional manipulation, among others. Human history is replete with wars fought on the premise of love.
Before the 14th century, St. Valentine’s Day was primarily about honouring a Christian martyr. As people worldwide celebrate romantic love today, as a newspaper we wish to underline the true message of Valentine’s Day, as contrary to what goes on such days in the name of the celebration. First and foremost, St Valentine’s actions promoted marital love between two adults. He secretly wedded them to the sacramental union according to Christian values. This is unlike many persons today who are not even physically and mentally mature enough to engage in legitimate affairs or those who are adults but have no intention of conducting an honourable relationship.
Also, St Valentine wedded men and women who were desirous of responsible family life. So, those in same-sex relationships have no business marking a day like this. At the time St Valentine went against the authorities to join soldiers in marriages, he was promoting legitimate procreation. It was also unlike these days when we have couples who cannot procreate – because they are in same-sex unions, or do not want to procreate – because they are in illicit love affairs, or those who decide to procreate in a single-parent-hood set-up.
Another lesson from St Valentine’s work was how early Christian leaders were ready to suffer martyrdom to minister to the persecuted. Today, many church leaders do not serve the flock; rather, they milk their congregations to live in opulence.
Today, as many young people step out to celebrate love, we urge them to observe the true spirit of Valentine’s Day: positive, responsible relationships, not illicit romance. After all, it was inspired by, and named after, a priest canonised because he suffered death on account of a matter intricately related to genuine love as approved by the Divine.