Happy Valentine’s Day! Or should I say Happy Ash Wednesday? This Valentine’s Day is unique in that it shares its day with Ash Wednesday, the day that begins the Lenten Season. Lent, for those who are unfamiliar with it, is 40 days of preparation before celebrating Easter. Lent is a season of fasting, repentance, and reflection on Scripture. Lent, and therefore Ash Wednesday, dates move slightly each year in connection with Easter Sunday.
Valentine’s Day, on the other hand, is on February 14 each year. Valentine’s Day, today, is the celebration of love, the passing on of love notes, and tokens of love (such as chocolates and flowers). The red heart has become the ubiquitous symbol of the holiday. Why these traditions? Why February 14? And why St. Valentine?
Historical Development
The origins of this holiday are lacking. There is little knowledge of St Valentine other than his martyrdom supposedly on February 14, 269 AD. There is no connection to “love” being associate with Valentine until Geoffery Chaucer wrote a poem about birds finding a mate on Valentine’s Day in 1412. Then William Shakespeare’s use of his name in Hamlet and coining the phrase “to be your Valentine” (Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5). And then in 1784, Joseph Johnson’s nursery rhyme further promoted Valentine’s Day and gave us the origins of “roses are red and violets are blue...”
"The rose is red, the violet's blue,
The honey's sweet, and so are you.
Thou art my love and I am thine;
I drew thee to my Valentine:
The lot was cast and then I drew,
And Fortune said it shou'd be you."
It was shortly after this time that the tradition of sending and receiving cards began in England, when a British publisher issued The Young Man’s Valentines Writer, filled with suggestions for those who could not find the right romantic words. This set-in motion the Hallmark Holiday we experience today. But why the focus on romantic love?
Fact or Fiction
Folk legend states that married men could leave the Roman military, so the emperor forbid the marriage of soldiers. The legend states that St. Valentine would secretly perform marriages for Christian soldiers against the law of Rome. This endeared him to the Christians, but angered Rome and they imprisoned him. Letters were sent to the prison by the couples he wed, thanking him for performing this act of love. Rome than martyred him. This legend claims it is the thank you notes that became our love letters tradition.
Another legend states that Valentine fell in love with his jailer’s daughter. Shortly before he was martyred, he wrote a note to her and signed it “your Valentine.” And thus, the sending of Valentine notes.
Neither of these legends seem to have actual historical evidence, other than the fact that Valentine was martyred. If these are not the roots, then what else could be? Some claim that the Church chose to celebrate St. Valentine on February 14 to replace the pagan Roman festival called Lupercalia (Wolfe Festival). One practice on this holiday was that all the girls’ names would be put into a box and the boys would draw out a name at random. These new couples would be united for a year and the lovers would exchange gifts. Being a pagan holiday debauchery and lasciviousness would follow.
The pope put an end to Lupercalia and promoted Valentine’s Day. However, syncretism (a mingling of beliefs) took place and the Christian holiday adopted various themes from the pagan festival. This is explicitly demonstrated by this report from an Encyclopedia written over a hundred years ago, “February 14 in England and Scotland in olden times was accompanied by a peculiar custom. On the eve of the day dedicated to St. Valentine, young people gathered and placed in an urn a collection of tickets corresponding to their number that were designated with the names of young girls; later each removed one such ticket. The girl whose name was given in this manner to a young man became his ‘Valentine’ for the coming year, just as he became her ‘Valentine’; this entailed the young people having a relationship among themselves that was similar to the description in medieval romances of that between a knight and his ‘lady of the heart.’”
One Orthodox priest claims that Lupercalia was a Rome worship of the god Faunus, a god of fertility. Faunus worship can be traced back to the Greek god Pan, and even further back to the Phoenician sun god, Baal. He then connects the line to Nimrod, the founder of the ancient city of Babylon, who received Baal as a title, and given the names Lupercus, since he hunted wolves, and Valentinus, meaning “strong, powerful, and mighty.” Not only that, but in the ancient Chaldean language “bal” was the word for “heart” and became the symbol for Nimrod. The orthodox priest continues his claim that February 14 is the celebration of Nimrod’s birth.
Is this the true beginning of Valentine’s Day? Are any of these myths or legends true? Is participating in sending Valentine’s notes and flowers actually participating in pagan festival rites? Who knows? Most of the various theories cannot be proven or fully developed. The only verifiable and historical truth we can claim is that St. Valentine did exist and he did die for being a Christian.
Persevering Love and Faith
St. Valentine’s story is more appropriately aligned with Ash Wednesday than our current Valentine’s Day celebrations. Bishop Valentine pastored at a cathedral outside of Rome on the route of pilgrims from the north. He remained faithful until the end, when he was beheaded by Rome for his love for Christ. His persevering faith and love for Jesus is something worthy of celebrating, admiring, and emulating in our own lives.
Since we have grown accustomed to the expressions of love on this holiday, let us consider 1 John 4:7–12
“7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”
In this passage we see that “God is love” not “love is god.” That’s a big distinction. Our culture worships “love” and praises cheap imitations of genuine love. “Love is love” is a phrase passed around demanding acceptance of various expressions of romance that are not consistent with God’s holy Word. “Love is from God” and should be treated as holy, in purity and faithfulness. God demonstrated love by pursuing us and providing for us. He is the reason that we can love.
God’s love reveals our sinfulness. We become aware of how undeserving we are of his love. We become aware of the great chasm that sin has caused between us. And we are overwhelmed by his generous demonstration of love through his Son, Jesus Christ, our propitiation from sin. Yes, I got it in there, my favorite Bible word: propitiation!
Our sin deserves the wrath of God and eternity in Hell. Jesus came on our behalf and stood in the gap. He received the wrath of God in our stead and made a satisfactory sacrifice for all of our sin. This is what propitiation means, Jesus’ suffering satisfied the wrath of God and provided a way for us to be reconciled with the Father.
This is the love that compelled St. Valentine to stand firm, even at the cost of his life. This is the love that invites us to repent, reflect, and fast to draw closer to our Savior. Consider the RCA’s comments on Ash Wednesday, “We begin this holy season by acknowledging our need for repentance and our need for the love and forgiveness shown to us in Jesus Christ. I invite you, therefore, in the name of Christ, to observe a Holy Lent, by self-examination and penitence, by prayer and fasting, by practicing works of love, and by reading and reflecting on God's Holy Word.”
Observing Ash Wednesday and Lent can be a rewarding season of celebrating the finished work of Christ. However, one should be careful not to think of the Lenten practice as a means of earning salvation or diminishing the work of Christ. Ash Wednesday is a reminder of the fragility of life “ashes to ashes and dust to dust”, it is also reminder to “repent and believe the gospel.” The gospel is the invitation of Christ to “come and follow me.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor that was hanged for being part of a conspiracy to assassinate Hitler, once said “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Consider Matthew 6:24-26, when Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow him. Or Romans 12:1 to be a living sacrifice.
It is in this invitation, to “come and die” that St. Valentine’s story and Ash Wednesday coalesce. The love of God compels us through the provision of his Son to give up our own lives and follow him.
Standing up for Christ and loving others the way Christ loves them is how we can faithfully answer the call and honor St. Valentine today.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
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