History of saint Valentine

Saint Valentine (Latin: Valentinius) is a widely recognized third-century Romansaint commemorated on February 14 and associated since the High Middle Ages with a tradition of courtly love.

All that is reliably known of the saint commemorated on February 14 is his name and that he was martyred and buried at a cemetery on the Via Flaminiaclose to the Milvian bridge to the north of Rome on that day. It is uncertain whether St. Valentine is to be identified as one saint or the conflation of two saints of the same name. Several different martyrologies have been added to later hagiographies that are unreliable.

Because so little is known of him, in 1969 the Roman Catholic Churchremoved his name from the General Roman Calendar, leaving his liturgical celebration to local calendars.^[2] The Roman Catholic Church continues to recognize him as a saint, listing him as such in the February 14 entry in theRoman Martyrology,^[3] and authorizing liturgical veneration of him on February 14 in any place where that day is not devoted to some other obligatory celebration in accordance with the rule that on such a day the Mass may be that of any saint listed in the Martyrology for that day.^[4] Use of the pre-1970 liturgical calendar is also authorized under the conditions indicated in the motu proprioSummorum Pontificum of 2007. Saint Valentine's Church in Rome, built in 1960 for the needs of the Olympic Village, continues as a modern, well-visited parish church.

Saint Valentine's Day, the Feast of Saint Valentine, is an official feast day in theAnglican Communion,^[5] as well as in the Lutheran Church.^[6] In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Saint Valentine the Presbyter of Rome is celebrated on July 6^[7] and Hieromartyr Valentine (Bishop of Interamna, Terni in Italy) is celebrated on July 30.^[8] Notwithstanding, because of the relative obscurity of these two saints in the East, members of theGreek Orthodox Church named Valentinos (male) or Valentina (female) may observe their name day on the Western ecclesiastical calendar date of February 14.^[9]