Re: [Fwd: FW: [WOrthodox] BIO: Valentine, martyr (14 Feb 300?)]

[Heather Swann <heather@pop.net>]

Poster: Heather Swann <heather@pop.net>

Actually, I had understood it as having been started by a greeting
company in the 1800's- the Valentine giving sort of Valentine's Day,
that is....

Miri 
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> From: "Carey, Dan" <careydm@federal.unisys.com>
> To: "'aAnne'" <afcarey@norfolk.infi.net>
> Subject: FW: [WOrthodox] BIO: Valentine, martyr (14 Feb 300?)
> Date: Mon, 16 Feb 1998 16:24:42 -0500
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> You might want to forward this to Atlantia-l.
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> > ----------
> > From:         kilroy@copland.rowan.edu[SMTP:kilroy@copland.rowan.edu]
> > Sent:         Friday, February 13, 1998 7:26 PM
> > To:   ceclist@associate.com; worthodox@associate.com
> > Subject:      [WOrthodox] BIO: Valentine, martyr (14 Feb 300?)
> >
> >
> > VALENTINE, MARTYR (14 FEB 300?)
> >
> > Around this time of year, many persons ask:
> >
> > "Who was St. Valentine, and what does he have to do with ending
> > romantic cards and messages?"
> >
> > St. Valentine is a martyr from before 312, commemorated on the 14th
> > of February.  Probably he was martyred on that date, but nothing
> > else is known of him. (A Valentine, priest of Rome, and a Valentine,
> > bishop of Ternia (Interamna), are both commemorated on 14 February,
> > and now generally assumed to be the same person.) In many parts of
> > Europe, it was once said that birds began to pair off for the
> > nesting season in mid-February. Since our forebears often spoke of a
> > given day by naming a saint connected with it rather than by giving
> > the month and the number of the day, we find them saying that birds
> > choose their mates on St. Valentine's day.  That is all. If a major
> > earthquake took place on Columbus Day, it would probably be known to
> > future generations as the Columbus Day earthquake, but it would be a
> > mistake to try to connect it with Columbus.
> >      There are several stories making the rounds that try to explain
> > the connection between valentines and Valentine. Every one that I
> > have heard sounds like an explanation made up after the fact,
> > probably by a Victorian clergyman lecturing to children. There are
> > other explanations attempting to connect it with various pagan
> > festivals of the early spring.  Again, I am not impressed. That
> > young men should send romantic messages in the springtime both in 90
> > BC and in 1990 AD does not require a conspiracy theory to explain
> > it.
> >
> > AFTERTHOUGHT: The chief authority for the statement that 14 February
> > is the date when birds were thought to pair off is Chaucer, who
> > writes of "Valentine's day, when every fowl doth choose his mate."
> > However, it has been pointed out that in addition to the two obscure
> > Valentines commemorated on 14 February, there is a still more
> > obscure one associated with 2 May, and that Chaucer may have had
> > this date in mind. Two arguments for supposing that he did: (1) May
> > seems more likely than February for birds to start building
> > nests--but I am no expert on birds of England; (2) King Richard II
> > was formally betrothed to Anne of Bohemia on 3 May, and Chaucer may
> > have intended a reference to the royal couple. He was a member of
> > the Royal Court, and was often invited to recite his own poems
> > before the King and Queen and others, and his poems contain at least
> > one other indirect reference to the Royal Marriage. If we accept
> > this theory, then we must suppose that, after all memory of the May
> > Valentine had died out in England, Chaucer's statement was
> > misunderstood as referring to the earlier date.
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