Michelle Martin

My funny Valentine

Sunday, February 3, 2013

It’s February, and that means the racks of Valentine cards at all the local stores are starting to look mighty picked-over.

But not to worry, —we’ll find a box of some kind of Valentine cards —probably sports related —to send to school with Frank, if he wants to.

As in most schools, students are allowed to bring “valentines,” spelled with a lower-case v according to Webster’s Third New World Dictionary, to exchange with their classmates. These valentines generally are small folded cards with the images of cartoon characters, pop stars and sports regalia, and students who bring them have to make sure they have one for every student in the class. The sentiments expressed are more of the “You’re cool” and “I’m glad we’re friends” variety than anything like romantic love.

That’s all for the best. There’s no reason to use a holiday to humiliate kids who would otherwise get fewer cards than their friends, or even embarrass kids who might get more attention than they want from someone who has a crush on them. And, generally, I’m all in favor of an excuse to celebrate. For some reason, Valentine’s Day doesn’t seem to raise the hackles of people who object to religion in schools as much as Halloween, and it doesn’t raise any red flags at all with the Halloween protestors who fear that it will draw kids to the occult.

But valentines, as we know them, don’t seem to have a lot to do with the original St. Valentine, a Roman priest who was martyred, probably with St. Marius, under the emperor Claudius II on the Via Flaminia, circa 269, according to the Roman Martyrology. He was removed from the General Calendar for international liturgical veneration in 1969, but is still included on local calendars in some regions.

Because he is believed to have helped Christian couples marry, he is the patron of love, lovers, engaged couples and happy marriages. He is also a patron of bee keepers, epilepsy, fainting, plague, travelers, young people and greetings — perhaps fittingly for the namesake of one of the most widely observed “Hallmark holidays” — and he is represented in pictures with birds and roses.

He wasn’t the only St. Valentine. The name was common in the first centuries of Christianity, and several others are mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, although none of the others are associated with Feb. 14.

Pro-marriage groups, including the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Family Ministries Office, capitalize on the association between St. Valentine and marriage to encourage married couples to take time out and focus on their relationship. And restaurants, florists, and, yes, card companies capitalize on the day to sell more of products to people who want to tell the world they are in love.

No matter how far we’ve gotten from a priest beheaded outside the gates of Rome, I think expressing love is a good thing in general. So I guess I’d better get to the store to buy cards, and maybe some small, valentine-themed gifts, for my husband and kids.

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