14 Feb – St. Valentine, priest and martyr

Posted on 14 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

St. Valentine, priest and martyrSt. Valentine, priest, was martyred in 269 at Rome near the Milvian Bridge on the Via Flaminia.  He is considered a  patron of bee keepers, engaged couples and epileptics.  In pictures or statues he can identified with the symbols of birds and roses.

Valentine a Roman priest. He helped martyrs during the persecution by Claudius II. He was arrested and after refusing to renounce his faith, was beaten with clubs and then beheaded on 14 February around 270. Pope Julius I perhaps built a church near to what is now the Piazza del Popolo.  His relics are in the church of St. Praxedes, near Santa Maria Maggiore.

Legend has it that before he was killed he wrote a letter to the jailer’s daughter, signing it, “From your Valentine.”

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About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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6 Comments

  1. MJ says:
    14 February 2011 at 1:41 PM

    I’ve been to St. Praxedes – it’s beautiful! In a small side room (not very noticeable — on the right side of the nave as one faces the altar) is the base of the scourging pillar. The scourging pillar!! :)

    St. Praxedes itself is sort of hard to find…it’s not far from Santa Maria Maggiore, as Father Z said, but it’s down a small little side street that is easy to miss.

  2. Father G says:
    14 February 2011 at 3:26 PM

    The skull of Saint Valentine is kept at Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome, where the Greek Melkite Catholic community celebrates Divine Liturgy . This is also the church with the Bocca della Verità, a favorite among tourists.

  3. wolfeken says:
    14 February 2011 at 3:58 PM

    Of course the only way to say the red-vestment Mass of Saint Valentine (Missa ‘In Virtute’ with Valentine in propers) is to offer the TLM…

  5. Fr. Basil says:
    14 February 2011 at 4:39 PM

    \\Of course the only way to say the red-vestment Mass of Saint Valentine (Missa ‘In Virtute’ with Valentine in propers) is to offer the TLM…\\

    And why cannot red vestments be worn in the OF with the Priest using the Common of a Martyr?

  6. Geremia says:
    15 February 2011 at 5:00 PM

    Is it true that St. Valentine’s feast day on February 14 was deleted from the post Vatican II liturgical calendar? If so, why?

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