Happy Saint Valentine’s Day!
Did you know that there are at least three different Saint Valentines, all of whom are mentioned in the early martyrologies under the date of 14 February, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia?
“One is described as a priest at Rome, another as bishop of Interamna (modern Terni), and these two seem both to have suffered in the second half of the third century and to have been buried on the Flaminian Way, but at different distances from the city. In William of Malmesbury’s time what was known to the ancients as the Flaminian Gate of Rome and is now the Porta del Popolo, was called the Gate of St. Valentine,” the encyclopedia reports.
Pratt at Valentine, Texas in 2010. Photo is a bit out of focus so I’ll tell you: Due to theft of the signs, TxDOT has the sign VERY HIGH – I’m standing on the back of a Buick in this photo!
According to that source: “The popular customs associated with Saint Valentine’s Day undoubtedly had their origin in a conventional belief generally received in England and France during the Middle Ages, that on 14 February, i.e. half way through the second month of the year, the birds began to pair. Thus in Chaucer’s Parliament of Foules we read:
For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day
Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.
“For this reason the day was looked upon as specially consecrated to lovers and as a proper occasion for writing love letters and sending lovers’ tokens.”
How long will it be before recognition of Valentine’s Day is considered “hate speech” by Twitter and the rest of the Left because it is terribly hurtful to their fellow jaded Leftists who choose to live bitter loveless lives rejecting the love God has given us in Christ?
The robins are busy in our yard this week, making war over territory and, I assume they soon will build their nests for hatching…if God knows even when a sparrow falls, he surely cares for robins, too, as he does me and you.