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Saint Valentine's Message
More than 17 centuries have passed since the death of Saint Valentine, who served as bishop of Terni, a small city in the heart of Italy, from 197 until 273 CE. Valentine was a man of God. He preached in Terni, and beyond, until he was beheaded in Rome during the persecutions of Christians by the Emperor Aurelius.
The love that Valentine preached and testified to with his life was the love inspired by the Gospel: "No love is greater than this: than to lay down your life for your friends." And it was this love that pressed him to help young people to marry.
Sabino and Serapia were the young protagonists of the most famous legend that has linked Saint Valentine to sweethearts and engaged couples over the ages. Sabino was a Roman legionnaire, and Serapia was a Christian from Terni. Sabino’s conversion to Christianity grew stronger together with his love for Serapia and his friendship with Valentine. It led him to refuse to carry arms, engage in violent oppression of others, fight, or engage in war -- all of which were tightly linked to his prior life before it turned against power and force. Sabino, thanks to Serapia and Valentino, discovered a love that transformed his life. This ancient message of love and peace echoes forcefully in our present troubled times.
On February 14, 1997, Pope John Paul II wrote that because of Valentine Terni had become “the city of love without borders, the city of universal love." He thus defined the love that we must live and proclaim: A "love that conquers, breaks down frontiers, and crumbles barriers among human beings. Love that creates a new society.”
Pope Benedict XVI also evoked the theme that God is the source of love, and of eros, too, in his first encyclical, entitled Deus est Caritas, or God is love. In the 2005 publication issued shortly before Saint Valentine’s feast day of Feb. 14, the Pope noted that eros is within the very mystery of God. And when eros is no longer a gift, but a turning inward upon oneself, God saves it with His spirit, agape, so that the human person opens himself again to others, his encyclical said. To a human race overwhelmed by violence and wars, by abandonment and injustice, and to people turned in upon themselves and upon their own personal interests, Pope Benedict wanted to present a God with a human face, a good Father truly in love with human beings.
While society seems to do everything to destroy the ties of love, even treating fidelty with irony, every year hundreds of couples renew their promises of love before the tomb of Saint Valentine in Terni, highlighting vividly that the essence of love is fidelity and can even be fortified by sacrifice.
Love indeed has a tremendously serious dimension if it is to be true. As we cross the threshold of the Third Millennium, we are reminded of the origins and early days of the Church. And from the life of Saint Valentine we receive a beautiful and passionate testimony of his far-reaching, generous love for the entire world.
Valentine modeled himself on Jesus and never allowed fear or egotism to deflect him from his belief or path. He, like many other Christians in the past and still today, gave his life for love. Such Christians include Andrea Santoro, my seminary and middle school classmate, murdered while kneeling in prayer in a church in Turkey. And Francis of Assisi, whose message of love was so like that of Saint Valentine and who also came from Umbria, heart of Christian Italy. And Oscar Romero, who gave his life to defend the poor and the oppressed in El Salvador.
In this century that began under the symbol of terrorism and war, in a world where the risk is that love will be forgotten amidst so many forms of hatred, the message of Saint Valentine points towards love drawn from the profound depths of his own life, showing us a shared path that meets and welcomes all.
Vincenzo Paglia is Roman Catholic bishop of Terni. His contribution to "On Faith" was translated from the Italian by Katherine Marshall, senior fellow at Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs
By Vincenzo Paglia, Bishop of Terni, Narni and Amelia |
February 15, 2007; 10:47 AM ET
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Again, VALENTINE'S DAY IS NOT ABOUT A MARTYRED PRIEST.
In this age of the internet, KNOWLEDGE IS THERE.
Check the facts.
I am tired of the christian faith PLAGERIZING pagan holidays for their own.
You are NOT the beginning. Your egos are absolutely amazing.
The Feast of Lubercus
The first interpretation has this celebration originating as a pagan tradition in the third century. During this time hordes of hungry wolves roamed outside of Rome where shepherds kept their flocks. The God Lupercus, was said to watch over the shepherds and their flocks and keep them from the wolves. Every February the Romans celebrated a feast called Lupercalia to honor Lupercus so that no harm would come to the shepherds and their flocks. Also during Lupercalia, but in honor of the goddess Juno Februata, the names of young women were put into a box and names were drawn by lot. The boys and girls who were matched would be considered partners for the year, which began in March. This celebration continued long after wolves were a problem to Rome.
http://www.techdirect.com/valentine/origin.html
"In 1969, the Catholic Church revised its liturgical calendar, removing the feast days of saints whose historical origins were questionable. St. Valentine was one of the casualties."
Posted by: mommadona | February 17, 2007 4:14 PM
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Dear Bishop Paglia
Thank you for sharing the story of St Valentine. Being an Indian Catholic woman (belonging to the Syro-Malabar Catholic church in Kerala, India) I did not know the religious story behind Valentine's day (despite living in the West long enough)! But I do know about eros and love that "breaks down frontiers and crumbles barriers" and builds a new person.
How rightly you remind us of a pressing need to find the power of real passion that comes from God by directing our passion first to God and then with the passion that He grants all who seek it from Him, to direct it towards building our human relationships and fulfilling God's real calling in our lives. How easily we forget how passionate Jesus really was about fulfilling His mission, and how we need to be reminded over and over again! How sadly many of us tend to ignore the fact that Jesus fills His followers with passion and self-sacrificing love, although there are countless examples of it down the centuries!
Soja John Thaikattil
Sydney, Australia
Posted by: Soja John Thaikattil | February 17, 2007 3:57 AM
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I appreciate this explanation of Saint Valentine and February 14. It gets a little weary when people complain about the evil infuence of religion in American life and then completely forget the positive contribution of Valentine's Day.
Posted by: Ralph | February 15, 2007 7:29 PM
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To Bobster --
It's hard to fulfill Christ's commandment to love one another. Indeed, we are going to fail from time to time in living up to what is expected of us. The trick is to recognize our failures, own up to them honestly, ask for the forgiveness of God and our fellow men, and just keep trying...
Posted by: Robert B. | February 15, 2007 1:21 PM
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I never knew the orgins behind Valentines Day. The article was very informative. I was aware of St. Francis of Assis Prayer, and use that prayer even today. In all honesty I can't say that I love all people. I think its a worthy goal to work for. About the best that I can do today is to treat people like I want to be treated. With tolerance, respect, and kindness.
Posted by: Bobster | February 15, 2007 11:07 AM
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Rejoice for God's Truth and Beauty have been revealed to me. My Broken Heart bids all of Mankind a Happy Valentines Day from God. Love is the Greatest Gift of all. Do not squander it. Cherish it, Always. Amen. And yes, Love conquers all, even hate born of it. And yes, I still deeply Love Mariah for as my Brother Stevie Wonder has been known to "See". I was made to Love Her, build my world Lord around her! Hey, Hey, Hey!",(but "Not like this. Not like this."...from the Matrix and the Black Samauri) What a Blessing Stevie is. How great it is to be able to share time on this Earth with Him...
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO ALL, Especially to you M.C.
Posted by: Bruce A. Sailes | February 14, 2007 9:36 AM
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St. Valentine's Day Massacre is more like it. She did not go to the Grammy's for a reason you know? First her husband's prior family, and now this? Valentine's Day? It will be a reminder for me alright.
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