DAILY DEVOTIONS, LIFELONG FAITH

The Story of the Relics of St. Valentine (with Michael & Sophie)

20 Feb 2020

If you have any memories of St. Valentine’s Day, it’s typically for the cards, candy, and big pink hearts everywhere. But who was St. Valentine and why is he so mysterious while his holiday is such a big deal?

To celebrate this day of romantic love, Michael invites his wife Sophie on to tell her the story of St. Valentine and where his relics have ended up. From a flower-crowned skull in Rome to a wax effigy concealing St. Valentine’s bones in an old Missouri mission, the bones of St. Valentine have been the site of pilgrimage and healing even as we know so little about the third-century martyr.

The relics of St. Valentine reveal a beloved saint whose work has continued to be inspire devotion and love among those who find them. Even after over 1700 years after his death, we see a church that still asks St. Valentine to intercede in the lives of many couples and single people.

We hope you enjoy this bonus episode, but we’ll happily hear comments. Find our contact info here and let us know if you’d like to hear more about relics and the forgotten saints of the past.

If you want to learn more about the fascinating history of relics, we highly recommend the classic by J. Charles Wall, Relics of the Crucifixion: Where They Went and How They Got There You can find a couple free excerpts on Catholic Exchange, 

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image: The Flower-Crowned Skull of St. Valentine in S. Maria in Cosmedin in Rome by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P. / Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Michael-J.-Lichens_avatar_1534423726

Michael J. Lichens is the former editor of Catholic Exchange, whose writing has appeared in both Catholic and mainstream sources. With an M.A. from the University of Chicago of Divinity School, Michael spends much of his days editing, writing, and researching great works in Catholic literature and also shares a passion for the overlooked moments in faith. You can track his love of ossuaries and saints at mlichens.com or here on CE.

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