SAINT VALENTINE AND THE ROOTS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION

 

SAINT VALENTINE AND THE ROOTS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION

            We really do not know for sure who he was.  There are actually several Saint Valentines whose names are recorded in lists of early Church martyrs who have a connection with February 14 and who lived in the second half of the third century.  One of them is described as a priest of Rome, another as a bishop in central Italy.  They are described in different narratives as having been martyred near Rome.  They may actually refer to the same person, but historians are not sure.  Pope Julius I (d. 352) reportedly built a basilica over the grave where Saint Valentine was buried.  The fact that all we know for certain is that he was a martyr is the reason for his removal from the official calendar of feast days in 1969. 

            How did Saint Valentine become associated with a day devoted to lovers?  The Catholic Encyclopedia suggests that the roots are found in a common belief in England and France in the Middle Ages that on February 14 birds would begin to pair.  The famous English poet Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote “The Canterbury Tales,” may be the source of the association of the feast day with lovers.  In “Parlement of Foules” he wrote: For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne's day, Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.  According to legend the Saint addressed a letter to his jailer’s pretty daughter as “from your Valentine.”  Another legend claims that Valentine defied the emperor’s command by secretly presiding at marriages to spare grooms from having to go to war!

            Valentine’s Day was a big deal in my elementary school.  We always had a party in the classroom.  The students exchanged cheap Valentine cards with one another, and boys would make one for their mothers.  I remember giving a Valentine card not only to a neighbor friend but also to her sisters, so that they wouldn’t be jealous!  Western society has moved far away from the formerly dominant influence of the Roman Catholic Church, but Valentine’s Day is a vestige of this past.  Other holidays also go back to Western civilization’s Catholic roots, most notably Christmas, of course.  Today it is celebrated by the majority of folks more like a winter holiday than the Nativity of the Savior (as a little kid I used to wonder what the Baby Jesus had to do with Santa).  Another holdover is Mardi Gras, brought to America by French immigrants, which provides an excuse for debauchery in New Orleans and elsewhere every year but at one time was a serious day of preparation for the beginning of Lent.  Even now, exactly at midnight, the mounted police lead a parade of street cleaners on Bourbon Street as the revelry is supposed to end with the beginning of Ash Wednesday, a day set aside for prayer and fasting.  However, it would be quite a miracle if everyone suddenly became sober at 12 a.m.!

            Some young people might not know that Sunday was considered a special day of the week long before the creation of the National Football League.  Many states and towns had “blue laws” that kept shops and bars closed on Sundays.  In my opinion it is unfortunate that we have moved away so radically as a society from the observance of Sunday.  Apart from the fact that every person and every community is morally obligated to honor and reverence God, we should also regret that there is not at least one day of the week which is free from work and making money.  I took a course on Judaism at the Lutheran seminary in Germantown, and I remember the Rabbi speaking not only about the religious sense of the Sabbath, but also of how humanly necessary it is to have a weekly day of rest.  The loss of Sunday is only one of many positive influences of Christianity that our progressively secular society has turned away from.

A strong argument has been made by many scholars, Christian and non-Christian, that the best values which are honored in our society today are a direct result of the influence of Christianity.  Such values as the notion of universal human rights, of equal dignity, of a duty to the poor, the sanctity of marriage, and the pursuit for peace have their seeds in the Gospel.  While they were never lived perfectly at any time, they are ideals that uniquely developed in Christian civilization.  They still continue to influence public discourse and policy, but the loss of the fear of God leads also to the loss of common sense, as is evidenced when human rights do not include unborn human beings and nations can happily come together to celebrate the Olympics in a country that practices human slavery and genocide.  

Dear Saint Valentine, Pray for us!