Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 February 1913 — VALENTINE DAY LONG IN FAVOR [ARTICLE]

VALENTINE DAY LONG IN FAVOR

Centuries Have Failed to Dim the Memory of the Good Old Saint.

4- ___________ DISPUTE AS TO HIS IDENTITY

At Least Two Bishops of Ancient —Times Have Been Credited With the Honor of Being the Founder of the Day Consecrated to Cupid.

ST. VALENTINE of blessed memory, whose natal day falls upon the 14th of February, seemß to be the saint of this particular season. His customs, which have survived the lapse of centuries! are associated in our minds with the sending of various amatory epistles, and the rather more agreeable gifts and presents, which are occasionally sent in the shape of flowers and candies by the young men and maidens, one to another. New York and New Yorkers still retain memories of the saint, who seems to have been like his associate; the good St. Nicholas, a patron saint of the Netherlands, and in this connection we, perhaps on account of our Dutch ancestry, celebrate his festival with a kettledrum, says the New York Times. Far back in the mists .of antiquity lies the origin of the custom of sending letters, or valentines, on the saint’s day, while the original St. Valentine would appear to be gifted with as many lives as the proverbial cat, or reincarnations under the same title, for we And two bishops of the name, a Virgin martyr, and a Tyrolean saint, all of whom have authentic records of their lives and deaths preserved in history, and none of whom would seem to be in any way connected with the valentines of today. However, It is always possible to reconcile the two or three, and there Is sufficient evidence to show that St. Valentine, a bishop of Rome, who died In 278 A. D., was born on the 14th of February, and he is so set down in the Roman and Anglican calendars. He was a martyr to his faith, and when cast into prison by his enemies he cured his keeper’s daughter of bllndneßß, for which miracle he was beaten with clubs and then beheaded, and his remains repose In the Church St. Praxades, at Rome, while a gate now known as the Porto Popolo was formerly called by the name of St. Valentine, or Porto Valentino. Another Valentine, also a . Bishop, claims a share In the day, and his claim to shintshlp rests upon the cure of the son of Craton, the Rhetorician. His death was caused by choking on a fishbone, whether of his own choosing or administered by his enemies the legend does not state, but In Italy and Greece they pray to this saint to cure them from epilepsy. The St. Valentine of Tyrol, who seems to have been born a little later, and who died in the fourth century, has a church conscrated to his memory in South Tyrol, at Meran, where he Is supposed to have preached Christianity to the heathen Lombards. In the legend he appears as a beautiful youth attired In the dress of a Roman soldier bearing a cross on his sword hilt, and coming over the mountains from Italy; entering Meran, in what is now known as Tyrol, he encounters the heathen priest o/ the temple, and after a long argument with him, he calls upon his gods to destroy the temple. The heathen and the priest are #ll

struck dumb by his threats, and when with one blow he pushes down the pillars of the temple, like Samson, they rush forth in horror, expecting him to be destroyed under the falling walls. Instead of which St. Valentine kneels unhurt, with a seraphic look upon his face, while the wrath of their god Is not shown by the fierce wing and tempest which they expect, and quantities of doveß and birds alight upon the neighboring trees In peaceful flocks. St. Valentine immediately after this miracle marries the first heathen couple and performs the first marriage ceremony in Tyrol according to Christian rites, which would seem to associate him with at least two of the modern customs as the saint of lovers, and with the emblem of his doves and birds.