Saints Valentines Day Is For MARTYRS Not For Lovers.

SAINTS VALENTINES DAY is for MARTYRS not for LOVERS

Valentines should be saintly martyrs not romantic lovers.

THE ANCIENT SAINTS VALENTINES DAY was instituted by the Church to hold on February 14 as a day to remember three Christians who lived and died for Christ in the second and third century.

There were three different Saint Valentines. Two (one of which was a Bishop) were martyred in Rome and the third was martyred in Africa.

THE MODERN VALENTINE OF LOVE is a fictitious Valentine created in the lyric of Chaucer’s poem “Parlement of Foules” for the engagement anniversary of King Richard II of England and his Queen Anne of Bohemiaon May 2 1382 (not February 14). Both royals were teenagers (15 years) and their marriage was controversial and unpopular. In his poem Chaucer wrote:

“For this was Saint Valentine's Day,

when every bird cometh there to choose his mate”

This poem and royal marriage gave birth to legends fabricated by Valentine Greeting Card businesses, associating love and Valentine but moved the date from the royal engagement anniversary of May 2 to the Church’s martyrs day of February 14. Other writers such as William Shakespeare in his 1601 “Hamlet”, John Donne, Edmund Spencer, “Gammer Gurton‘s Garland” (1784), etc followed Chaucer to associate Valentine with lovers.

There was never a Saint Valentine that was canonized for romance but for refusing to deny Christ even in the face of death.

Are you ready to be a true Valentine for Christ?