LATEST NEWS
Who was the real St. Valentine? Surprising facts about the Patron Saint of happy marriages
Valentine’s is one of the most celebrated dates of the year, but why do we celebrate it? And who was St. Valentine?
Conspiracy theorists will tell you that Valentine’s is a date created by big corporations to make people spend money on a day that is not based on a real person or events. To be honest, the truth is not very clear; the reality is that the saint has been mentioned and portrayed by many institutions and people throughout history in a different light. There is an actual story that claims that St. Valentine was a pope, but I am not sure about this one
Related stories:
Who was the real St. Valentine? And how did he die?
Regardless of conspiracies or other stories, most historians agree that St. Valentine might have been one of two people. On one interpretation, the church claims he was the Bishop of Terni; on another, he could have been a temple priest killed for marrying people without the permission of Rome. One thing is sure for historians, Emperor Claudius II ordered his beheading on the outskirts of Rome.
What are some cool facts about St.Valentine?
- The skull of the saint can be found in Rome. Bones and other relics now identified with St. Valentine were discovered in a catacomb near Rome in the early 1800s. St. Valentine’s flower-covered skull can be seen in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome.
- About a dozen saints with the name Valentine appear on the Roman Catholic Church’s canonization list. St. Valentine Berrio-Ochoa, a Dominican priest from Spain who made his way to Vietnam, is the most recently canonized Valentine. Before his execution in 1861, he served as a bishop. Pope John Paul II canonized Berrio-Ochoa in 1988.
- The feast of Lupercalia may serve as the date why we honor Valentine’s. The Romans celebrated the festival on February 15th with drinking, excessive orgies, and sex, in addition, to animal sacrifices.
- Those who follow him seek his blessings in times of crisis, including plague, fainting, and travel, as well for beekeeping and epilepsy.
Nonetheless of who he was, this date is not going anywhere, and yes, it has to do because corporations make a lot of money on this particular day.