Be a Modern-Day St. Valentine
Believe it or not, the Catholic Church identifies at least 11 saints named Valentine. The majority were priests or martyrs, but the best-known St. Valentine, the reason that we celebrate February 14 with chocolates and flowers and love letters, was a third-century priest in Rome who converted the Judge Asterius and his household after miraculously healing the judge’s daughter from blindness. The tradition of sending Valentine’s cards is rooted in a story that the Saint, who was martyred, sent a letter to Asterius’s daughter before his death, signed “from your Valentine.”
Valentine’s chief association with romance, however, comes from his violation of a decree from Emperor Claudius II, ordering that Roman soldiers may not be married in the Church. Valentine, however, continued to celebrate the sacrament of marriage for Roman soldiers and their brides in secret. When brought before the emperor, Valentine tried to convert him and was executed: beaten with clubs and beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate on February 14, A.D. 269. His skull, crowned with flowers, is today kept as a relic in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome.
Young men and women today ought to take inspiration from St. Valentine … giving his life for love of marriage.
While there is officially no law today in America forbidding young couples to marry in the Church, the domineering social engineering of the modern age tells young men to bed as many women as possible, to wear condoms and not have children, to watch pornography incessantly and shamelessly — it tells young women to be promiscuous and rack up a “body count,” to make some money selling homemade porn on OnlyFans as a “side hustle,” and to prioritize Instagram travel pictures and a “girl boss” career over raising children, even killing those children (via abortion) to avoid motherhood — and both young men and young women are told that being religious, standing for their faith, holding traditional values, and carrying themselves with dignity and virtue is a social death sentence, akin to being beaten with clubs and beheaded.
Such aberrations as “polyamorous” and “open” relationships and marriages are on the rise, while couples run their own OnlyFans-style accounts online. The “dual income, no kids” (DINK) trend has become a sort of status symbol. Increasingly, marriage has little to do with lifelong commitment, with raising children, or with sanctification and reaching Heaven — at least not in the eyes of the world.
Young men and women today ought to take inspiration from St. Valentine, who boldly confronted the oppressive regime of his day, giving his life for love of marriage, Christian virtue, and Christ Himself. The degeneracy of the modern age can — and should — be rejected. Marriage must be reclaimed: it is not a social signet ring, it is not a mere contract or tax benefit, it is a cross, it is a road to Calvary, a road to death to oneself and life everlasting.
St. Valentine’s life was about more than just paper hearts and chocolates. He exemplified Christian courage and stood in defense of the sacrament of marriage, earning the crown of martyrdom for his brave confrontation against the evils of his age. May we all have such courage and stand boldly and sternly against the evils of our own age.
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