Not Saint Valentine

There were quite a few Saint Valentines back in the day. Let's take a brief look at some of the lesser known ones first.

There is the St. Valentine whose feast day is May 2. He was a bishop of Genoa, Italy, from about 295. He aided monastic expansion in his era and died in 307. His relics were discovered in 985. How romantic!

Or how about the St. Valentine whose feast day is July 16. He was bishop of Trier, Germany and was martyred in 305 when he was executed during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian.

Valentine was also a pope of Rome for about 40 days in 827, and little is known about his life.

Then there is the St. Valentine (feast day December 16) who was martyred with a bunch of other saintly types in 305 at Ravenna, Italy. Apparently there is some question as to how many and who actually died at this time and place. The fact that there are so many Valentines at this time makes it easy to mix them up I suppose.

But that's not all! There is the St. Valentine of feast day September 2 fame. The 4th bishop of Strassburg, France he died in the 4th century after leading a relatively forward thinking diocese.

Let's see now...St. Valentine feast day January 7, died in Austria in 470 after being an abbot and missionary bishop in Northern Italy for a while. St. Valentine and Dubatatius, feast day November 17, executed for their faith at Carthage. St. Valentine & Hilary, feast day November 3. Beheaded in 304 at Viterbo, Italy, during the persecutions under Emperor Diocletian (Valentine was a priest and Hilary his deacon).

And that doesn't even take into account all of the Sanints with names like Valens, Valentino, Valentina, Valentin, and Valentinian. Crazy.

St.Valentine (the famous one) shares today's feast day with several saints. My favorites are St.Auxentius (died in 473) because he was a member of the personal military entourage of Emperor Theodosius II in Constantinople. Then he retired and became a hermit until he was accused of heresy. He got better and then he went to live on a mountain (Mount Skopa), near Chalcedon. Among other things he formed a congregation of women while he was up there. Also, St. Antoninus of Sorrento who died in 830 was a Benedictine abbot and patron of Sorrento, Italy. He also became a hermit on a mountain (Monte Angelo) and was hailed as a man of holiness by the unwashed local types. While he was up there St. Michael (the Archangel) visited him on the mountain. After he died he repelled an attack by the Saracens on Sorrento by a miracle. Let's see St.Valentine do that! Ha!