By Thomas Hegarty
Back in the 3rd century, under the rule of Emperor Marcus Aurelius Claudius II, “Claudius the Cruel”, Rome was involved in many unpopular and bloody campaigns. The emperor had to maintain a strong army, but was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. Claudius believed that Roman men were unwilling to join the army because of their strong attachment to their wives and families.
However, the Christian St Valentine of Terni, a holy priest, (some say Bishop) in Rome was said to have celebrated marriages between Christian couples in clandestine secrecy in Rome and advised married men not to go to war and to stay with their wives.
When the secret came to light, Roman Emperor Claudius ordered Valentine’s execution on 14th February 269. His martyrdom was brutally carried out by beheading.
Valentine was buried in Terni near the present Basilica, in a cemetery that already existed in pagan times, where several objects of the 4th and 5th centuries were found. A first basilica was built in the 4th century, outside the walls, on the martyr’s tomb. Destroyed by the Goths together with the city in the 6th century, it was rebuilt in the 7th.
In 1605 Bishop Giovanni Antonio Onorati, obtaining a permission from Pope Paul V, ordered to begin the search for the body of the saint. The body of St. Valentine was soon found in a leaden box containing a marble urn, rough outside but carved with reliefs inside. The head was separated from the torso which confirmed death by beheading. The urn was immediately taken to the cathedral. But the people and the Congregation of Rites wanted that the relics of the martyr continued to rest where they had been buried. So it was decided to build a new basilica on the site.
In 1630 the relics were deposited in an artistic ark consists inside a supine statue. The statue could be seen up to some years ago under the main altar rebuilt by Archduke Leopold. Valentino’s tomb was moved to the new altar in 2003. In the same year, the skull that had been stolen from the tomb in 1979 was returned to Terni.
The original religious celebration named after the Christian saint and martyr Saint Valentine of Terni was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496, to replace the previous pagan festival of Lupercalia. The festivity spread especially in France and England by means of the many monasteries of the Benedictines, who were in charge of the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni from the second half of the 7th century.
Dublin’s Valentine Shrine
The Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church (Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel) in Dublin is unexpectedly one of the city’s most romantic spots. Many are drawn here because the church holds the relics of Saint Valentine, a gift from Pope Gregory XVI in 1836, a small vial of Saint Valentine’s blood. This shrine contains “some” sacred body parts of Saint Valentine the Martyr, together with a small vessel tinged with his blood. They were given to the church by Pope Gregory XVI. They’re kept in a casket on an altar to the right of the main altar. The Shrine to St. Valentine is found on the right hand side of the church as you enter. The casket sits beneath the marble altar in a niche which is protected by an ornate iron and glass gate. Above the altar stands the life-sized statue of the saint set into a marble mosaic alcove.
Today, the Shrine is visited throughout the year by couples who come to pray to Saint Valentine and to ask him to watch over them in their lives together.
Prayer to Saint Valentine
Dear Lord, who art high in the Heavens,
Giver of Love and Passion,
And He who strings the heart’s cords,
Lead the Lovers this day, February ten plus four.
The day during the month of two,
When the date is the perfect number of God
Greater two souls and two hearts.
Some Loves are fleeting ,
But that which is built on you will never fail.
So guide the Lovers to know what is to be.
Your truths the Lovers’ mouths should speak,
For Your truth is that which is honest to the heart.
Only this, then, should pass over the red lips of the Lovers.
Your art, the Lovers simply a medium.
It is only with True Hearts that You can create a Masterpiece,
So let the Lovers remember that their Soul’s Desire
Is the one for which You light their Fire.
And let it be You who creates the Art of the Lovers;
The art of two into one.
Amen.
