(A.D. 269.)
[All Western Martyrologies. Acts contained in those of SS. Marius,
Martha, Audifax, and Habachuc.]
This saint was a priest of the Roman Church, and was put in chains by
Claudius II. for having assisted the martyrs during the Emperor's
persecution of the Christians. Calpurnius, the prefect of the city,
who had charge of him, intrusted him to the care of Asterius, his
chief officer. S. Valentine used his opportunity, and preached the
faith to his guard, and restored sight to his adopted daughter.
Asterius was converted and baptized with his whole family, and
confirmed by a bishop named Callistus. Claudius hearing this,
condemned Valentine to be beaten with clubs, and afterwards beheaded.
He suffered on the Flaminian Way, on February 14th, A.D. 269.
The body of S. Valentine is preserved in the Church of S. Praxedis, in
Rome; but the head in that of S. Sebastian. Much difficulty is caused
by the great number of relics of saints called Valentine, commemorated
on the same day, but of whose acts nothing is known.
There is a S. Valentine, bishop and martyr, whose body is preserved at
Baga, in the Asturias, and the head at Toro, on the Douro.
The body of a S. Valentine, together with that of a S. Albinus, and S,
Paulianus, Bishop of Rieux, are preserved at Annecy. The body of
another S. Valentine, M. at Rome, was extracted from the cemetery of
S. Calixtus, and given by Pope Urban VIII. to the monastery of
Socuellamos, in Albacete, in Spain. Another body claiming to be that
of a S. Valentine, Roman martyr, is venerated in Belgium, at Hamme;
this body was extracted from the catacomb of S. Laurence on the
Flaminian Way, and given by Pope Gregory XV., in 1623, to Count Louis
Egmont; part of these relics were translated to Armentières on the
Lys, upon the French frontier. Again, another body of a S. Valentine,
martyr at Rome, was found in the catacomb of S. Cyriac, and was given
in 1651 to the Jesuits of Ghent. The name was so common in the later
period of the Roman Empire, that it is probable there were many
martyrs of the same name. This is proved by the discovery in the
catacombs of three, with the palm branch and bottle of blood. Besides,
the ancient Martyrology, called that of S. Jerome, mentions on this
day, "In Africa, Valentine and twenty-four soldiers, martyrs," of whom
nothing further is known. There was also a S. Valentine, first Bishop
of Teramo, in Umbria, who having healed the crippled son of one Crato,
a citizen of distinction, was seized and beheaded by order of the
governor, about the year 273.