Today, 14 February, is the feast of ...
* Valentine, martyr(s) (c. 269)
- a Roman priest named Valentine was decapitated at that
time, as was a bishop of Terni
- although his feast is extremely popular in England and
elsewhere, in England (at least) there are no churches
dedicated to him
- does anyone know how the custom of St Valentine's Day
developed?
Last year Sherry Reames replied:
H. A. Kelly did a lot of research on the origins of St. Valentine's Day as
a festival for lovers and published the results in a short book entitled
*Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine* (Davis Medieval Texts and
Studies 5, published by E.J. Brill, 1986). I wasn't convinced by Kelly's
argument that we've all got the date wrong (one of the purposes of his
book was to prove that Chaucer and his contemporaries must have been
referring to the feast of a different St. Valentine, in early May); but
his book is worth reading regardless for the wealth of information it
provides on this strange and fascinating subject.
* Abraham, bishop of Carrhae (c. 422)
- a hermit, he preached in a village for a few years, and
after converting the local population he returned to his
hermitage; however, his fame was such that he was named
bishop
- after his death, his hairshirt came into the possession
of emperor Theodosius II, who would occasionally wear it
himself
* Maro, abbot (433)
- a hermit who lived not far from Abraham (see above), he
founded several monasteries and trained many solitaries; he
generally prayed standing
* Auxentius (473)
- after visiting many hermits, he became one himself, near
Constantinople; he eventually founded a convent of nuns,
the Trichinaraeae (the nuns dressed in haircloth)
* Conran, bishop (sixth century?)
- helped establish the monastery of Kirkwall, in the Orkney
Islands
* Antoninus of Sorrento, abbot (830)
- following a vision, he founded a shrine to St Michael
near Sorrento
- when he was dying, he said he wished to be buried neither
within nor without the city wall; so, his monks buried him
inside the wall itself
* Conrad of Bavaria (1154)
- a Cistercian of Clairvaux, he went on pilgrimage to
Palestine, and died on his return voyage, in southern
Italy; at his tomb, lambs would come and kneel
* Adolf, bishop of Osnabruck (1224)
- entered Cistercian monastery of Camp as a youth, but
became a very active bishop
* Nicholas Paglia (1255)
- a student in Bologna, he was converted after hearing a
sermon by St Dominic; noted for his mystical experiences
* Angelo da Gualdo (1325)
- lived as a hermit for forty years, after feeling guilty
when he got his mother so upset about his giving his bread
to the poor that she died
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Carolyn Muessig
Department of Theology and Religious Studies
University of Bristol
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