Saint Valentine

VALENTINE A priest in Rome and a physician, he was beheaded there under Claudius the Goth on February 14 and buried on the Flaminian Way, where a basilica was erected in 350. On the same day in the Roman Martyrology is celebrated another Valentine who was bishop of Interamna (Terni) about sixty miles from Rome and who was scourged, imprisoned, and then beheaded there by order of Placidus, prefect of Interamna. Many scholars believe that the two are the same, and it is suggested that the bishop of Interamna had been a Roman priest who became bishop and was sentenced there and brought to Rome for his execution. The custom of sending Valentines on February 14 stems from a medieval belief that birds began to pair on that day. (d. c. 269)