All over the world, every February 14 is celebrated on Valentine’s Day in honor of the saint Valentine’s Day. However, little is known about the figure of the Roman priest and martyr of the Catholic Church.
He catholic martyrologycatalog of saints and martyrs, includes two figures with the name Valentine. «It is possible that this is the same saint who was taken from his city to Rome for martyrdom. This is suspected because, in addition to having the same name, both were beheaded on the Via Flaminia and have their festival on February 14«, they point out from the Catholic news agency ACI Prensa.
According to Catholic records, the first version recalls the Roman priest named Valentin who lived during the reign of Emperor Claudius Gothicus (268-270). Upon being recognized for his holiness, the emperor summoned him and tried to convert him to his polytheistic religion, although he was unsuccessful.
He even entrusted the task to Asterius, one of his trusted men and Roman officer, who imprisoned Valentine’s Day and challenged him to restore his daughter Julia’s sight.
However, Asterius not only failed to make the Valentin in his faith and accepted the challenge, but he converted to Christianity himself, after seeing how His daughter, blind since childhood, regained her sight thanks to the miraculous intervention of the priest.
Valentine’s Day was discovered, subjected to martyrdom and, finally, beheaded on February 14 on the Roman Via Flaminia, near the place where he was later buried.
The other version of Valentine’s Day It is located in the 4th century and presents it as bishop of the Italian city of Terni. According to the story presented Vatican Newsduring that time, Crato, a very wealthy Greek and Latin professor, offered half of his fortune to the bishop to heal his son of a physical deformity.
Refusing the money, the bishop prayed for the boy, who was cured in this way, and managed to convert Crato’s entire family to Christianity. Again, the miracle would have triggered the martyrdom of Valentin, what was executed on the Via Flaminia.
Why Valentine’s Day is considered the patron saint of lovers
Other versions, stories preserved by oral tradition, talk about the Emperor Claudius II had prohibited the celebration of marriages so that men would be available for war.
In defiance of this decree, it is said that Saint Valentine was a priest who married couples secretly. In the year 496, Pope Gelasius determined that each February 14 will be celebrated at Valentine’s Day in it anniversary of his martyrdom.
On the other hand, according to Vatican Newsthe Valentine’s tradition as patron saint of lovers It has its origin in an old English text whose author, Geoffrey Chaucer, maintains that in mid-February birds begin to reproduce, and in the northern hemisphere the date coincides with the beginning of spring.
