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Feb. 1st, 2004
Valentines and other saints
Feb. 1st, 2004 06:12 pmThere are at least two Saint Valentines, all Martyrs. There is the Valentine of Rome who is probably your first thought (the one who cured his jailor's daughter of blindness, and died in 269 or thereabouts, whose birthday was probably 14th February). There was Valentine, Bishop of Terni, also martyred, but somewhat later (unless I am confusing the two saints); both of these have a feast day of 14th February, presumably to save on confusion. (Try looking up St Gertrude sometime; there are two of those too, but only one of them has a feast day of March 17th (the other can be learnt about here. But I digress...
I'd also like to mention three other saints whose feasts occur at around this time; St Blaise, who is only important to a few people, like me, and Sts Cryril and Methodius. More on St Blaise in a moment.
St Methodius was an important chap; he wrote the Cyrillic alphabet. Together, Cyril and Methodius converted large chunks of Eastern Europe; they were brothers, it seems. They are patron saints of Europe, mostly by translating the Bible into Bulgarian (AFAICT), and their feast day is 14th February. Spare them a thought, in a fortnight, won't you?
St Blaise is the patron saint of throats, throat diseases and so on. He used to heal people and animals, who would allegedly come to him of their own volition when ill or injured. One day, a roman group out hunting discovered a load of animals around Blaise's cave, went in, discovered him at prayer, and the rest you can probably guess. Whilst in prison awaiting his beheading (and beating and other nasty tortures, leading him to also be patron saint of wool-combers and wool weavers), he saved a child from choking on a fishbone. This lead to his patronage of throats, and a special blessing on his feast day, 3rd February. Somehow, the years in which I've had the blessing have been easier, throat wise, than the years in which I haven't... maybe that's superstition, or optomism, or sheer power of prayer, I don't know.
In other news, my great-great-great-great-great aunt has still not been canonized, (and I cant find anything of the cause for her canonization; too many Australian schools' canteen price lists to wade through, and other equally exciting things) more useful page about her.
I'd also like to mention three other saints whose feasts occur at around this time; St Blaise, who is only important to a few people, like me, and Sts Cryril and Methodius. More on St Blaise in a moment.
St Methodius was an important chap; he wrote the Cyrillic alphabet. Together, Cyril and Methodius converted large chunks of Eastern Europe; they were brothers, it seems. They are patron saints of Europe, mostly by translating the Bible into Bulgarian (AFAICT), and their feast day is 14th February. Spare them a thought, in a fortnight, won't you?
St Blaise is the patron saint of throats, throat diseases and so on. He used to heal people and animals, who would allegedly come to him of their own volition when ill or injured. One day, a roman group out hunting discovered a load of animals around Blaise's cave, went in, discovered him at prayer, and the rest you can probably guess. Whilst in prison awaiting his beheading (and beating and other nasty tortures, leading him to also be patron saint of wool-combers and wool weavers), he saved a child from choking on a fishbone. This lead to his patronage of throats, and a special blessing on his feast day, 3rd February. Somehow, the years in which I've had the blessing have been easier, throat wise, than the years in which I haven't... maybe that's superstition, or optomism, or sheer power of prayer, I don't know.
In other news, my great-great-great-great-great aunt has still not been canonized, (and I cant find anything of the cause for her canonization; too many Australian schools' canteen price lists to wade through, and other equally exciting things) more useful page about her.