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| '''Saint Valentine''' or '''Saint Valentinus''' refers to one of a number of ] ]s who lived in ]. The feast of Saint Valentine was formally celebrated on ] by the ] until ]. | '''Saint Valentine''' or '''Saint Valentinus''' refers to one of a number of ] ]s who lived in ]. The feast of Saint Valentine was formally celebrated on ] by the ] until ]. | ||
Revision as of 08:05, 10 August 2004
Saint Valentine or Saint Valentinus refers to one of a number of matyred saints who lived in Ancient Rome. The feast of Saint Valentine was formally celebrated on February 14 by the Roman Catholic Church until 1969.
The feast of St. Valentine was first declared around 498 by Pope Gelasius I. The creation of the feast may have been an attempt to supersede the pagan holiday of Lupercalia celebrated on February 15.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the saint whose feast was celebrated on the day now known as Valentine's Day was possibly one of the three martyred men who lived in the late 3rd century during the reign of Emperor Claudius II:
It is believed that the priest and the bishop Valentinus are buried along the Via Flaminia outside Rome, at different lengths from the city. In the 12th century, the Roman city gate known in Ancient times as the Flaminian Gate (as now known as the Porta del Popolo) was known as the Gate of St. Valentine.
Little is known about the lives of any of these men, however. Many of the current legends surrounding them were probably invented in the late Middle Ages in France and England, when the feast day of February 14 became associated with romantic love.
The relics of one of the claimants to the title St. Valentine are now interred in the Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland, to which they were donated by a nineteenth century pope. Many tourists visit the saint's remains on St. Valentine's Day.
The saint's feast day was removed from the Church calendar in 1969 as part of a broader effort to remove saints of possibly legendary origin. The feast day is still celebrated locally in some parishes.
see also: St. Valentine's Day
References
- Catholic Encyclopedia entry on Saint Valentine