St. Valentine was apparently executed for his “faith”, and has nothing to do with love whatsoever!  Though like all things to do with money the card industry decided to jump on the bandwagon and flog us the fictitious storyline, - as perhaps they did do their research though didn’t so much like what they discovered, so decided to sex it up!

     Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was murdered about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia, in Rome, on the 14^th February, and he was born on April the 16^th. His relics are in both Rome and Dublin, Ireland.  – Though there’s not a thread of evidence of any romantic kind of link, and especially to do with Cupid, in the original early medieval biographies of this “martyr”.

     Legend has it that Valentine was victimised as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person, though was impressed by Valentine and decided to have a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life.

Though Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead, and it was because of this he was murdered!

Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing the blind daughter of his jailer, so therefore in certain circles this acts like AAA backstage pass and he was then granted a Sainthood!

     Yet even to this day no one knows for sure whether the jailer knew how much big bucks his “blind” daughter would be worth, as 100,000’s of believers would want to flock around her and if possible for a small donation might be able to touch the ‘very same’ person that was healed by no less than a “Saint” who cured her blindness, - would surely be worth a handsome fee.

Though was she cured?

Did the scoundrel jailer have twin daughters, one that developed cataracts, - when he could see Valentine’s plight and dilemma whilst in his custody, did he [they] conveniently make a switch?

Did the jailer then enter Valentine’s prison cell with “blind daughter” so as Valentine could just do what priests do, which is have a few prayers and all that, so Bob’s your uncle and Fanny’s your aunt the so called miracle started to work.  Was it the very next day the jailer returned with cries of joy proclaiming his once blind daughter - following the touch of Valentine had her eyesight restored, as he proudly stood there with twin number two and whose eyesight had always been perfect.

Why on earth would you execute a man who had just preformed a miracle? 

Surely you’d sit-up and pay heed, but they obviously didn’t as they murdered, and then made him a Saint instead!

For unknown reasons the RC church seems to wish to prefer to forget that nasty little incident for in the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints, the feast day of Saint Valentine on the 14^th February was ‘removed’ the Roman Calendar? 

It’s almost as if he never existed in the eyes of the church for they say the reason for his removal was; “...because not was much known about him.”

How odd a statement, surely records within the Vatican would have his sainthood listed etc. as he wouldn’t have been entered in such an important reference point and ceremonial reminder such as their annual calendars and had remained there since his Sainthood had first established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD, though was later deleted from the list of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI?

There are many records and oil paintings of St Valentine, among the most famous was by David Teniers III, it portrays Valentine receiving a rosary from the Virgin Mary, so these are one of those things that make you go hmm, as why was he ‘really’ removed?

Knowing St Valentine is in veneration by all Catholics and still celebrated by many today.  Then why did the church go specifically out of its way to see this man was completely banished from its calendar and go to all the bother altering all that was then currently known and recorded about St. Valentine?

So why is it the Church killed him off, not once, but twice?

I wonder why have the Roman Catholic Church gone to all this trouble to completely eradicate poor old St Valentine from the archives of history related to that religion and left to the conglomerates to extort the arse out of everyone!

Sources:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_day
2. Jones, Terry. "Valentine of Rome". Patron Saints Tom. Retrieved 2007-02-14.
3. http://www.catholic.org