I always been one to search out the meaning in most everything. Where there is meaning… life experience is enhanced. So who is this St. Valentine & why do we celebrate Valentine’s day? While we don’t know a great deal about St. Valentine, what we do know gives us clues to the legends that have unfolded around him.
St. Valentine lived in third-century Rome during a time of political unrest. He was believed to be a doctor and a Christian priest which made him quite the rebel and he was considered to be a threat to Rome. He deeply loved God & shared his love with all people. His compassion led him to write notes encouraging those who’d been imprisoned for their faith- to take heart and not lose hope. Considered an enemy of the empire and unwilling to renounce his faith and he was sent to prison. There his presence changed the heart of the Roman emperor Claudius II, who spared his life.
In time, he won over the heart of Arterius, a key roman soldier and was believed to have healed Asterius’s daughter from blindness. This created such an uproar that Asterius and St. Valentine were put to death. St. Valentine was a radical who dared to love and shared that love in such a way that others were threatened by its transforming power.
This Valentine’s Day, let’s remember the Soul of this Celebration and dare to step out and love as St. Valentine did.
Enjoy the children’s book- Saint Valentine by Ann Tompert
