February 14
IS LOVE IN THE AIR?
Sunday is Valentine’s Day. If Valentine’s Day can do anything for us, I would hope it would be a return to the notion that “love is in the air.” We all could use a little love. Lately, our world could use a little more love. Christ teaches us to “love one another.” I say, share the love. Think first of the other, then of yourself. That is true love.
Who is Saint Valentine and why and how is he associated with this romantic day? There are several martyrs named Valentine (or Valentinus) in the annals of Church History. Among them, the martyr Valentine of Bulgaria; The Hieromartyr Valentine, Bishop of Terni; and Valentine of Rome. The latter two both lived and were martyred in the third century. Very little is known of them, yet it is the martyr or these two whose name is associated with Valentine’s Day. One of them, or a conflation by biographers of the two, is said to have assisted young couples in getting married, but that is likely a myth that developed to justify the romantic holiday. It is most likely that the saint had nothing to do with the notion of romantic love. He died for the Faith, not for love of a woman.
The romantic notion gets its origin in the 14th century with the English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer. He wrote in “Parliament of Fowles” this one line: “For it was on Valentine's Day, when every bird comes there to choose its mate.”
Birds mating. Yet, it doesn’t seem plausible that birds were mating on February 14th in England when it would be rather cold. This would occur much later in the Spring. Chaucer may have been referring to one of the other St. Valentines commemorated on a later date; who knows?
Nonetheless, this single line from his poem and the idea of birds mating on Valentine's Day began spreading among many European poets around this time, coinciding with the rise of the relatively new concept of courting. Over time and through these poems, the idea spread that February 14, Valentine's Day, was a day devoted to courting, and lovers began sending letters of affection on this day. The oldest surviving Valentine letter is a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans, in the 15th century from prison. In the poem, Charles uses the term “Valentine” referring to his wife:
My very gentle Valentine, since for me you were born too soon, and I for you was born too late. God forgives him who has estranged me from you for the whole year. I am already sick of love, my very gentle Valentine.
Having been imprisoned for 25 years, Charles was never able to see his wife’s reaction to the letter. She died before reuniting with her husband or bearing any children.
The practice of sending romantic cards or flowers and such, though nice, has nothing to do with any Church activity or commemoration. Still, sending your wife or husband a nice, sentimental note or gift is not a bad thing. A better thing, of course, is to share love as Christ showed us.
