Saint Valentine

Saint Valentine ( Latin: Valentinius ) is a widely recognized third-
century Roman saint 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 Flaminia close 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 Church
removed his name from the General Roman Calendar , leaving his
liturgical celebration to local calendars. The Roman Catholic
Church continues to recognize him as a saint, listing him as such in
the February 14 entry in the Roman Martyrology, 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. Use of the
pre-1970 liturgical calendar is also authorized under the conditions
indicated in the motu proprio Summorum 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 the Anglican Communion, as well as in the Lutheran
Church . In the Eastern Orthodox Church , Saint Valentine the
Presbyter of Rome is celebrated on July 6 and Hieromartyr
Valentine (Bishop of Interamna, Terni in Italy) is celebrated on July
30. Notwithstanding, because of the relative obscurity of these two
saints in the East, members of the Greek Orthodox Church named
Valentinos (male) or Valentina (female) may observe their name day
on the Western ecclesiastical calendar date of February 14.

IDENTIFICATION
The name Valentinus does not occur in the earliest list of Roman
martyrs, compiled by the Chronographer of 354. But it is found in
the Martyrologium Hieronymianum , which was compiled, from
earlier local sources, between 460 and 544. The feast of St. Valentine
of February 14 was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, who
included Valentine among all those "... whose names are justly
reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God." As
Gelasius implies, nothing was then known about his life.
The Catholic Encyclopedia and other hagiographical sources
speak of three Saint Valentines that appear in connection with
February 14. One was a Roman priest, another the bishop of
Interamna (modern Terni) both buried along the Via Flaminia outside
Rome, at different distances from the city. The third was said to be a
saint who suffered on the same day with a number of companions in
the Roman province of Africa , for whom nothing else is known.
Though the extant accounts of the martyrdoms of the first two listed
saints are of a late date and contain legendary elements, a common
nucleus of fact may underlie the two accounts and they may refer to
a single person. According to the official biography of the Diocese
of Terni, Bishop Valentine was born and lived in Interamna and was
imprisoned and tortured in Rome on February 14, 273, while on a
temporary stay there. His body was hastily buried at a nearby
cemetery and a few nights later his disciples retrieved his body and
returned him home.
Τhe Roman Martyrology , the Catholic Church's official list of
recognized saints, for February 14 gives only one Saint Valentine; a
martyr who died on the Via Flaminia.

OTHER SAINTS VALENTINE
The name "Valentine", derived from valens (worthy, strong, powerful),
was popular in Late Antiquity . About eleven other saints having the
name Valentine are commemorated in the Roman Catholic Church.
Some Eastern Churches of the Western rite may provide still other
different lists of Saint Valentines. The Roman martyrology lists
only seven who died on days other than February 14: a priest from
Viterbo (November 3); a bishop from Raetia who died in about 450
(January 7); a fifth-century priest and hermit (July 4); a Spanish
hermit who died in about 715 (October 25); Valentine Berrio Ochoa,
martyred in 1861 (November 24); and Valentine Jaunzarás Gómez,
martyred in 1936 (September 18). It also lists a virgin, Saint Valentina,
who was martyred in 308 (July 25) in Caesarea, Palestine.