I was listening to the radio yesterday at work and the host had an interesting story to tell.
Turns out that some of the remains of the real St Valentine are held here in Ireland. I had never heard this before but he was a real person that the holiday is based on.
St Valentine was a priest in 3rd century Rome. He was a priest and physician who was murdered by the romans about 270AD. Apparently he used to marry Christian couples in secret at a time when it was outlawed to be Christian and to stop the husbands being conscripted during war.
He was buried in Rome but exhumed at a later date and at one stage there was a very famous Irish priest giving sermons in Rome who impressed the pope so much that he received part of the body as a gift.
A famous reforming Carmelite priest and prior of the order, John Spratt, was given the saint’s remains as a personal gift by Pope Gregory XVI and he took them back to Dublin in 1836. Those remains have been in the possession of the Carmelite White Friar fathers ever since and rest in the order’s church.
Ref: Irish Echo.
Not a present that would go down as well these days where the ladies are more inclined towards cards, flowers and jewellery but it was a different time back then. Valentine became the patron saint of lovers in whichever way that patron saints are decided before the holiday mushroomed into the travesty that it is today.
Despite being a priest, it seems that Valentine himself fell in love with a young woman who was supposedly the daughter of his jailor. The letter he wrote to her before his death is considered the first Valentine's card.
By signing off ‘from your Valentine’ he made famous the now common manner of finishing off Valentines' messages, especially those from secret admirers.
Although his remains were initially kept in the church and catacombs of San Valentino in Rome, some of his relics have since been dispersed, including to the Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin.
Ref: RTE
Nowadays it's a money making racket but turns out that the OG Valentine was a true risktaker and romantic.
I could try giving herself some body parts next year but don't think it will go down too well. Might just stick to the chocolates.
Funny to hear how these holidays originate and that some of them have a real background and purpose.