Thought for the Week

by Revd Canon Alec Boyd, Assistant Canon at The Cathedral of The Isles.

Valentine’s Day as a festival of romance began in the Middle Ages after Geoffrey Chaucer wrote a poem to celebrate the first anniversary of the King’s engagement. This day of celebration became associated in peoples’ minds’ with the idea of birds pairing in the Spring and soon established itself in folk law as a day of merriment.

We know that there were several martyrs called Valentine in the early church, but the Valentine we celebrate on 14 February was a priest in Rome. Amongst others priestly duties he married young couples so that the young men could be exempt from becoming Roman soldiers. We know from Roman records that Valentine was buried on the Via Flammina in Rome and that he was made a saint in 496AD.

The problem was that Valentine refused to obey the Emperor’s edict that everyone should convert to Roman paganism. The Emperor Claudius II thought so highly of Valentine that he personally interviewed him but even he could not prevail upon Valentine to give up his Christian Faith. Sentenced to death and while awaiting his fate in jail Valentine restored the sight of the daughter of his jailor. As a result all of the jailor Asterius’ family became Christians and were baptised by Valentine. The idea of linking romance in to this story came from both Valentine performing those marriages and also from the final farewell letter he wrote to this girl before his death which he signed as “Your Valentine.”

So then across the world many cultures hold Valentine’s Day as a day to celebrate the joy of romance and love. From simple beginnings this celebration has spread far and wide. It links us all together in our human appreciation of the joy of romance and love which bind people together. It teaches us that at the centre of all of our lives is the simple Christian message that God’s creative love lies at the heart of human relationships.