In the spirit of St Valentine…let love lead

•The presumed skull of the ancient Roman Martyr called Valentine, resides in Rome, in the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin

We usually think of Valentine’s Day as an explicit Christian holiday but the truth behind it is yet to be unraveled.
Saint Valentine’s Day has suffered from its share of commercialization and confusion, yet the poignant story of the original Valentine’s Day is worth remembering.
According to history after about 1,700 years of history, it’s kind of hard to know exactly who Valentine was and what he did. The truth is, there were probably several Valentines. Also, the truth is probably not as highly dramatized as we may wish. The truth is embedded somewhere in the depths of history, never to be known. What follows may be part tradition and part truth, but completely fascinating.
The year was 270. The Roman Empire was engaged in a desperate attempt to retain the Pax Romana that had endured for centuries. Christianity was active during the 3rd century. Although Christ had died over two centuries prior, Christians were eagerly propagating their faith and churches were springing up everywhere. These early centuries of the church were the times of great apologists such as Clement, Ignatius, Origen, Polycarp, Athanasius, and Chrysostom. But the 3rd century was also the time of the Christian martyrs. Before Constantine, the empire was not friendly to Christianity. Claudius, the reigning emperor of that time, was a warlord, his intent was only to preserve his empire and chase out his enemies.
Christianity was not on his like list. His primary interest was the military, and he would stop at nothing to ensure that his mighty army remained loyal to him.
It was Claudius’s maniacal grip on the military that led him to install a very foolish policy throughout the empire. Claudius had a problem of love affairs routing within his army, his men would prefer to get married and stay home with their wives and families rather than risk their lives and sacrifice for their country.
Military recruiting suffered because of the growing affection between man and wife. Love was getting in the way of patriotism! Claudius would have none of it. Being the man with the big stick.
Claudius passed a law forbidding anyone to get married. Obviously, this was an outrage. Was he serious to have promulgated ‘No marriage policy?’
Living under the climate of anti-Christian and anti-marriage, was Valentine who was a Christian priest in Rome. He knew from the Bible that marriage was good and honoured by God. He knew that marriage was lawful according to the Christian faith, so he took it upon himself to perform Christian marriages—contrary to the law.
As a priest, he performed secret marriages for couples who desired to be married bravely defying the anti-marriage edict. It wasn’t just marriages that Valentine was working on. He was also trying to protect persecuted Christians who were being clawed and haunted down by the aggressive Roman leaders. Christians knew that they could flee to Valentine to find protection.
Valentine took a huge risk. Not only was it forbidden to marry or to perform marriages, but it was also a criminal offence to aid or abet Christians—especially ones whom the Roman Empire had on their hit list! Valentine was enmeshed in what the Roman Empire considered high treason and traitorous activity. Although he was being loyal to his faith, he was flying in the face of Roman law. The Roman government captured him and put him in a lockdown.
Now, Valentine—protector of Christians and performer of marriages—was himself suffering for his love and devotion to God.
It got worse, and then the Brave Valentine, true to his bold character, tried to convert Emperor Claudius to Christianity. This had gone too far. Claudius demanded that Valentine recant his faith and submit to the cruel and godless tyranny of Rome. Valentine staunchly refused. The Roman Prefect condemned him to torture and to be beheaded.
In another vein, it was said that St Valentine during his incarceration met and fell deeply in love with the daughter of the head of the prison guards, as the story goes, their romance was the prototypical saga of steadfast love, broken only by the tragic death of Valentine.
He wrote a note to her, allegedly penned on February 14, the day before he was beheaded. He signed the note, “Love from your Valentine.”
Although the story of Valentine’s Day is shrouded in mystery, buried in tradition, and (thanks to commercialism) stripped of its significance, we can bring some of the truth back.
The truth is, love can’t be squelched, outlawed, or stamped out.

•Culled: https://www.walksofitaly.com/