By the Gods!

Saint Patrick

Here he is, folks: the patron Saint of Ireland, whose big day is March 17, honoured the world over with copious amounts of green alcohol and annoying pinching prayer and appreciation. It’s the end of the holiday now as this article goes up, but who are we kidding— none of you will be in any shape to read this until late tomorrow morning, right?

We have two authentic letters written by the ol’ Saint, and from them we can garner a few pieces of information: Patrick, when he was about 16 years old, was captured from Britain by Irish raiders and taken to Ireland as a slave. He dwelt there, slave-style, for six years before escaping and returning to his family. After entering the Church and becoming a learned fellow and ordained bishop he returned to Ireland and did the whole Saint-thang.

His famous exploits include but are not limited to: 

▪ Banishing all the snakes from Ireland (they attacked him during a fast — big mistake.

▪ Making the Shamrock important — he related the three-leafed clover to the three faces of the trinity. The metaphor stuck.

▪ His magic walking stick growing into a real tree. 

▪ Communicating with ancient Irish ancestors. Being psychic is always a helpful Saintly tool.

To sum up, he was a devout bishop that served in Ireland, and lived through the late-4th to mid-5th centuries CE. He died on the 17th of March, and the day is celebrated as a day of solemnity and holy obligation in Ireland, and a day of general merriment and “kiss-me-I’m-Irish-ness” everywhere else.

Saint Valentine

In honour of Valentine’s Day, I thought we’d take a brief moment to explore ol’ Saint Valentine’s origins. There were more than a few St. Valentines in the lists of the martyred saints of ancient Rome; this is largely due to the fact that the name “Valentine” was a particularly popular one in Late Antiquity (it was derived from valens and meant “worthy, strong, and/or powerful”).

In 496 CE, Pope Gelasius I established the first feast of St. Valentine for February 14, putting ol’ Valentine’s name among those “whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God.” We don’t know much about the particular Valentine who gives us February 14 as his feast day, other than the fact that on this day he was buried at the Via Flaminia, north of Rome. The Valentine that appears in various martyrologies in connections with the 14th of February is described as being either a priest in Rome, a bishop, or a martyr in the Roman province of Africa. 

Much later, around 1260 CE, the Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine said that Saint Valentine was brought before the Emperor Claudius, and refused to deny Christ in the year 280 CE. Before he was beheaded, this Valentine restored sight and hearing to the daughter of his jailer with his saintly powers. 

(In the photo above, St. Valentine receives a rosary from the Virgin Mary)