Valentine

ON ST. VALENTINE, BISHOP AND MARTYR, AT BAGA AND TORO IN SPAIN,

under Trajan.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Valentine, Bishop and Martyr, at Baga and Toro in Spain (St.)

By G. H.

[1] That the Acts of one Saint are very frequently attributed to another who is called by the same name has been inculcated by us more than once. The Acts of Saints of the same name are easily confused. Thus on the 12th of February we said that two SS. Eulalias, Spanish Virgins -- the one of Merida, the other of Barcelona -- are either merged into one by the Spanish writers themselves, or what is proper to one is transferred to the other, or what was common to both is rashly denied to one of them. But what is even more liable to happen, and we have already shown to have occurred several times, is that illustrious deeds and contests of Martyrdom performed by others outside Spain are not carefully enough attributed by some to the Saints of Spain, whose Acts frequently lie hidden. We greatly fear that this may have occurred, through repeated errors, on this the 14th of February. Several SS. Valentine are venerated on February 14th. The name was common among the Romans -- Valentii, Valentini, Valentiniani -- by which Emperors, Consuls, Bishops, holy men, and indeed even heresiarchs were called. Of the Saints, several inscribed in the sacred calendars for this 14th of February have obtained public veneration in the Church.

[2] Liutprand, who flourished in the tenth century of Christ, in his Adversaria (if they are truly his) reports the following in chapter 62: "St. Salvius, Bishop and Martyr of Amiens, is believed to have been brought near Barcelona, of St. Valentine, perhaps a Spaniard, as St. Valentine, Bishop and Martyr (whom some make a Bishop of Interamna Flavia in Spain, while others say he was an Italian who suffered at Rome under the Emperor Trajan) was brought to a certain monastery near the city of Rubricata; they now call it Manresa. Others think he was a Confessor-Bishop of this city of Interamna." Ptolemy in Book 2, chapter 6, and Antoninus in his Itinerary directed from Braga to Astorga, who places it close to the latter, and Ambrosio de Morales in Book 9 of the Chronicle of Spain, chapter 25, and of Interamna Flavia, a Martyr, who reckoned it to be the town of Fuente en Calada in the diocese of Astorga, barely a league from the monastery of Nogales, mention the city of Interamna Flavia of the Lanciati in Hispania Tarraconensis. Bivar contests this at Dexter's Chronicle, year 160, number 2, and maintains it is now called Benavente, a town between the rivers Esla and Orbigo. In the Life of St. Valentine the Bishop from the Asturian Legendary, published by Tamayo de Salazar in his Spanish Martyrology at this 14th of February, it is said that his body was translated to the city of Rubricata near Barcelona, where it is honorifically preserved in the Benedictine monastery of Baga and venerated with due devotion. It is reported that his head was brought to the city of Toro, in the diocese of Zamora, formerly called Sabaria, and is kept in a silver casket. Zamora and Toro, the head at Toro, commonly Toro, are illustrious cities on the river Duero on the borders of the kingdoms of Leon and Castile, about which, after others, Giles Gonzalez Davila treats in volume 2 of his Theater of Spanish Churches, and asserts that at Toro, in the collegiate church dedicated to the Virgin Mother of God, the head of St. Valentine the Martyr is preserved; he is silent about the rest, and does not even call him a Bishop.

[3] Ptolemy also mentions Rubricata, an inland city of the Laeetani, at the place indicated above: some believe it is now called the town of Martorell, where the river Noia flows into the river Rubricatus, commonly called Llobregat. But the author of the Asturian Legendary, the body in the monastery of Baga: like Liutprand, understood the town of Manresa, not far from which the Bagese monastery is situated, as Antonio Vicente Domenec, on the Saints of Catalonia at the 14th of February, indicates and asserts that by the religious men of that monastery, who adopted the reform (as they call it) of the Rule of St. Benedict, the body of St. Valentine is preserved with great veneration, and that throughout all that region, annual commemoration on February 14th, the day of the 14th of February is celebrated with solemn worship in his honor. Tamayo de Salazar inscribed that deposition of the sacred remains of St. Valentine at Rubricata in his Spanish Martyrology, and notes that the Bagese monastery takes its name from an ancient city formerly said to be called Baccasium, today Baga, which Pedro Juan Nunez and Jeronimo Pujades report was built by Dionysus Bacchus. Antonio de Yepes, in volume 5 of his Benedictine Chronicle, writes that the foundation of the Bagese monastery was made in the year 971, at which time Liutprand was flourishing, who was the first to report that those relics had been translated to that monastery, although he does not give its name.

[4] And these facts about the ancient veneration of the relics of St. Valentine the Martyr among the people of Toro and Baga are beyond doubt. The history of their Translation lies hidden, nor can the Acts yet be known. In the Asturian Legendary they are excerpted from the Life of St. Valentine, Bishop of Terni in Umbria, which we give below, the Acts are excerpted from the deeds of St. Valentine the Italian, but they are put forward, amplified with too little consideration, with this opening: "Valentine is born of noble birth at Interamna in Italy, in the Abruzzi, within the boundaries of the Praetutii among the foothills of the Apennine mountain, where he was afterward made Bishop of the people of Interamna." Ptolemy places a double city of Interamna in Hispania Tarraconensis. There are many cities in Italy bearing the name Interamna, Interamnia, or Interamnium. The Interamna of Italy which had St. Valentine as its Bishop is the one in Umbria, surrounded by the river Nera, whence it receives its name; it is now commonly called Terni by the Italians. We shall give below the Acts of that Valentine, Bishop and Martyr, whom all the ancient Martyrologies celebrate. But the author of the Asturian Legendary transfers him from this Interamna to Interamnia of the Praetutii in Picenum. and he himself is ascribed to Interamna of the Praetutii, About which Ptolemy writes: "The inland cities of the Picenes are Urbs Salvia, Septempeda... Of the Praetutii, who are more eastern than the Marsi: Berethra, Interamnia."

[5] In the same Asturian Legendary, St. Valentine is said to have been made Bishop of Terni by St. Felician, Bishop of Foligno, and yet, in the year of the Lord 111, under the Emperor Trajan, at the command of Placidus, to have found eternal life by having his neck broken. and other things erroneously written about his date. We gave on the 24th of January threefold Acts of St. Felician, Bishop of Foligno, from which it is established that he underwent martyrdom under Decius in the year 250, and that St. Valentine, consecrated Bishop of Terni in Umbria by him, flourished in the same century, and perhaps lived for many years after his martyrdom. Finally, the people of Terni possess the body of their Bishop and venerate it with solemn worship. Let the people of Baga and Toro also venerate the sacred remains they possess, to whatever Valentine they may ultimately belong. Why should they not rather conjecture that he was a Spaniard by nationality? Yepes, cited above, says that according to the tradition of this monastery and the neighboring places, St. Valentine is considered a kinsman of St. Benedict, the founder of the Order; whence he infers, and rightly, that according to this tradition, he is not the St. Valentine the Martyr who converted St. Crato and others to the Christian faith.

ON SS. VITALIS, FELICULA, AND ZENO, MARTYRS AT ROME.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Vitalis, Martyr at Rome (St.) Felicula, Martyr at Rome (St.) Zeno, Martyr at Rome (St.)

By G. H.

Section I. The sacred veneration of these Martyrs; their relics.

[1] We hang in hesitation among the various Martyrologies, since what we may rightly affirm and what we ought to reject does not readily come to mind. We set forth each one. The Martyrology published under the name of the Venerable Bede, the Martyrs recorded without any place: the Trier manuscripts of St. Paulinus and St. Maximin, the Liege manuscript of St. Lambert, the Cologne manuscript of St. Mary ad Gradus, the Tournai manuscript of St. Martin, the Centula manuscript, and the Laetia manuscript, omitting the place of martyrdom, have only this: "On the same day, of the holy Martyrs Vitalis, Felicula, and Zeno." The same is read under the 13th of February in the Trier manuscript of St. Martin. These are ancient and highly reputed Martyrologies.

[2] Others write that these athletes suffered for the faith of Christ at Rome. Usuard, Ado, attributed by others to Rome, Galesini, Canisius, the manuscript Martyrologies of St. Mary of Utrecht and of St. Gudula of Brussels, and with them the Roman Martyrology, in these words: "Likewise at Rome, of the holy Martyrs Vitalis, Felicula, and Zeno." Bellini and Maurolycus omit the title of martyrdom. and the Via Ardeatina: Notker changes the order and adds the Via Ardeatina, in this manner: "Likewise at Rome, on the Via Ardeatina, of Felicula, Vitalis, and Zeno."

[3] Ferrarius in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy reports the same as Usuard and the Roman Martyrology; but at what time and by what kind of martyrdom they were afflicted, he says he has read nowhere. Peter of Equilio in the Appendix to Book 2, number 64, Ghinius in the Catalogue of Canonized Saints, and John de Nigravalle cited by him, Vitalis a Priest, write that Vitalis was a Priest. Wandelbert celebrates St. Felicula as a Virgin in this verse:

"Then on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of March, Vitalis shines, and Felicula the Virgin." and Felicula held to be a Virgin:

Lahier in his Menology of Virgins also calls her a Virgin; the same title is also given to her in the Breviary of Verdun, printed in the year 1625.

[4] Along with Wandelbert, the author of the very ancient Roman Martyrology, or Martyrology of St. Jerome, omits Zeno, other companions joined to them, but joins others in these words: "In the city of Spoleto, of Vitalian, Vitalis, Marcian, Felicula, and Julian." We suspect that here both places are omitted and names transposed, and that it should perhaps be read thus: "In the city of Spoleto, of Vitalian. At Rome, or, on the Via Ardeatina, of Vitalis and Felicula. In the city of Aegeae, of Julian and Marcian." The ancient manuscript Martyrology of Reichenau, or Augia Dives, near Constance, offers us this light in these words: "At Spoleto, of Vitalian. And on the Via Ardeatina, of Felicula. In the city of Aegeae, of Julian and Marcian."

Of these, as well as of Vitalian, we shall treat separately. The Aachen manuscript joins other companions: "The birthday of Zeno. On the Appian Way, in Tusculum, the birthday of SS. Vitalis, Cyrion, Felicula, and Faustinus." Cyrion is the Priest who was burned with fire along with Cassian, Agatho, and Moses, about whom more below. Faustinus is perhaps the companion of St. Jovita, and is venerated with him on the 15th of February.

[5] The Via Ardeatina went to Ardea, the city of the Rutulians, and proceeded directly from the city's Porta Capena out of the Appian Way. The Via Ardeatina and the Via Appia. Hence the most famous cemetery of Callistus, which Paul Aringhi says in Book 3 of Subterranean Rome, chapter 10, is universally known to be located on the Appian Way, is in various Acts of Saints placed on the Via Ardeatina; thus these Martyrs could have been attributed to either road by the authors. Moreover, as Strabo asserts in Book 5, the Via Latina begins from the Appian Way, branching off to the left near Rome; Tusculum, and crossing over the Tusculan hill, between the city of Tusculum and the Alban Mount, it heads toward the town of Algidus. The fork of the Ardeatina and Appia could have been understood as toward the Tusculan hills, or the Tusculan villa of Cicero, most celebrated in the writings of all, which is commonly called Cicero's Tusculanum; or perhaps the Martyrs were buried there or in the town of Tusculum. There was another Felicula, a Virgin and Martyr, foster-sister of St. Petronilla, who is venerated on the 13th of June. We read in the Acts of SS. Nereus and Achilleus on the 12th of May that she was buried on the Via Ardeatina. Was the laurel of virginity and the Via Ardeatina attributed to the present Felicula by some from that other one?

[6] The memory of these three Martyrs is celebrated in the Missals and Breviaries of various Churches, in several of which the Ecclesiastical Office is said for them together with St. Valentine the Priest, the Office for these Saints, with the names of all recited in the same Oration; as can be seen in the Breviaries of Verdun, Amiens, Antwerp, Bamberg, Ratzeburg, Cammin, and others. But a proper Oration is recited for them in the Churches of Bourges, Strasbourg, Cologne, Minden, Liege, and Brussels. However, in most Breviaries it is prescribed that this Oration is to be said under a single concluding clause "Through our Lord," etc., together with the Oration for St. Valentine. In the Breviary of Wurzburg, both manuscript and the printed edition of 1575, the Office used to be celebrated for these Saints alone on the day after Valentine's, that is, the 15th of February. The Oration. The following Oration is prescribed nearly everywhere: "Protect us, O Lord, by the prayers of Your Saints, so that as we unceasingly venerate the feasts of Your Martyrs Vitalis, Felicula, and Zeno, we may be both fortified by their faithful aid and advance by their glorious example. Through our Lord," etc. In the Breviary of Reims, Lesson 3 is recited about St. Valentine, at the end of which the following is added: "The combats of Vitalis, Felicula, and Zeno for the name of Christ are solemnly recalled, because on the same day they too were crowned with martyrdom at Rome."

[7] Ferrarius in the Alphabetical Index to his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, the body of Zeno at Rome in St. Praxedes, and Panciroli in his Sacred Treasury of the City, Region 2, chapter 42, assert that the body of St. Zeno the Martyr is preserved at Rome in the church of St. Praxedes, where Panciroli adds that in the chapel dedicated to St. Zeno, Pope St. Paschal placed the bodies of two holy Martyrs of the same name, both called Zeno, of whom one was a Priest and the other is the one venerated on the 14th of February. That a particle of the relics of one or the other was inserted by Cardinal Frederick Borromeo into the new altar of the monastery of Meda, relics at Meda, we stated on the 13th of February in the Life of SS. Haimo and Veremundus, chapter 3. A long bone of St. Zeno the Martyr is preserved at Antwerp in the church of the Society of Jesus, which Charles Scribani, then Provincial of the Flandro-Belgian Province, received at Rome in the year 1615, together with other Relics, by permission of the Supreme Pontiff and at Antwerp, and of Muzio Vitelleschi, General of the Society of Jesus, and delivered it to the Professed House at Antwerp in the year 1619, as is attested by his letters sealed with the Society's seal and approved in the year 1625 by Jean Malderus, Bishop of Antwerp. The day assigned to these relics is the 14th of February, on which this Roman Zeno is venerated.

Section II. Whether any of their Relics are preserved in Spain, and whether St. Vitalis is also called Victor.

[8] That the sacred bodies of Victor, Zeno, and Felicula are preserved with great veneration in the monastery of Blessed Mary of Serrateix, which stands in Catalonia in the diocese of Urgell, of the Order of St. Benedict, the commemoration of SS. Victor, Zeno, and Felicula on February 14th, and that their solemn memory is celebrated on the 14th of February and the seven following days, is reported by Antonio Vicente Domenec on the Saints of Catalonia, Antonio de Yepes in his Benedictine Chronicle, volume 5, at the year 977, and Tamayo de Salazar in his Spanish Martyrology at this 14th of February; the last of these translated from Spanish into Latin the history of the Translation, published by the other two from the ancient documents of that monastery, which we give largely in his own words.

[9] "In the year of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ 977, with the Most Serene Count D. Borell reigning in Barcelona, in the monastery of Serrateix, endowed by Count Oliba Cabrera, D. Oliba, surnamed Cabrera, Count of Besalu, wishing to imitate the works of his grandfather, Count D. Guifre, surnamed the Hairy, and of the Emperor Charlemagne, from whose female line he drew his origin, and knowing that Abbot Froilan had built a monastery at the town of Serrateix under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with the approval of the Lords Miro, Bishop of Gerona, and Wisald, Bishop of Urgell, decreed to confer great gifts by way of endowment on the aforesaid monastery. Therefore, to God, to the Blessed Virgin, and to Abbot Froilan and the Brothers serving the Lord, he granted without any diminishment that entire parish of Serrateix with all tithes, houses, first-fruits, and revenues accruing therefrom, together with forests, meadows, waters, springs, and streams; likewise all the waters recognized as necessary for the use of mills, even in the river Cardener and in the County of Berga. But he made these gifts on this condition: that the election of the Abbot should never be made without the consent and counsel of the same Count or his successors and of the Bishop of Urgell, and that the one to be elected should be from that same monastery, a capable and well-deserving monk being available; otherwise he should be drawn from another house. To this monastery were translated the sacred remains of the Martyrs Victor, Zeno, and Felicula, to which the holy bodies of those Saints were translated, so that by their merits and intercession God might grant him victory against the wiles of the devil."

[10] So Tamayo de Salazar from Domenec. Now Guifre, or Wifrid, or Giffrid, surnamed the Hairy, the 2nd of that name, was the 4th Count of Barcelona, son of Guifre I, the lineage of the Counts of Barcelona from Charlemagne, son-in-law of Baldwin the Iron, 1st Count of Flanders, having married his daughter Guinihild, who through her mother Judith was the granddaughter of Charles the Bald, born to Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne -- as is indicated above. The same Guifre the Hairy was mentioned on the 12th of February in the first Translation of St. Eulalia, Virgin and Martyr of Barcelona, at which he is said to have been present, number 8. Guifre the Hairy had by Guinihild of Flanders four sons: Rudolf, Bishop of Urgell; Wifrid III, the 5th Count of Barcelona, who died leaving no heir; Miro, the 6th Count of Barcelona; and Sunner, Count of Urgell, whose son Borell was the 8th Count of Barcelona, as indicated in the testimony of Domenec cited above at the year 977. Before this man, the 7th Count of Barcelona was Seniofrid, son of Miro the 6th Count, whose brothers, born of this same Miro, were Miro, Bishop of Gerona, who together with Bishop Wisald of Urgell approved the said donation; and Oliba Cabrera, Count of Besalu, who conferred these gifts upon the monastery of Serrateix. Francisco Diago wrote most notably about this family in Book 2 of the Ancient Counts of Barcelona, from chapter 4 to chapter 25. to the Kings of Spain. Olivier Vredius in his Genealogy of the Counts of Flanders, Table 1, indicates that through this same family the origin of the Kings of Spain is traced from the Emperor Charlemagne; Jean-Jacques Chifflet shows the same in expanded tables in Light 8 of his Hispanic Vindications.

[11] Tamayo de Salazar writes that the bodies of these Martyrs Vitalis, were the holy bodies given by these Counts? Zeno, and Felicula were given, together with the other benefactions, by Count Oliba Cabrera of Besalu to the monastery of Serrateix, but he had not read this in Domenec, whom he cites. The latter only says that to that monastery, endowed by Count Oliba, those sacred remains of the Martyrs were translated. Moreover, in addition to the above-mentioned Bishops of Gerona and Urgell, he adds that they gave from the treasury of the Church indulgences to those who either chose burial there or conferred pious gifts for the repair of the church. But these things too do not pertain to this Translation; nevertheless they are reported by Tamayo de Salazar.

[12] The same Domenec suspects that these three holy Martyrs are the very same ones mentioned on this day in the Roman Martyrology, and, as we have shown, in most of the ancient Martyrologies. But everywhere in those Martyrologies it is Vitalis, are they the same as those reported above from the various Martyrologies? not Victor, as here; nor does any Martyrologist mention Victor on this day. Furthermore, we said above from Ferrarius and Panciroli that the body of St. Zeno is at Rome in the church of St. Praxedes; indeed, that the body of another Zeno, a Priest and Martyr, whose mention is not found in the other Martyrologies, is there as well. These could be considered different from those Roman ones, and perhaps they attained the crown of martyrdom in Spain itself. I confess, meanwhile, that we have hitherto found nothing concerning the relics of St. Felicula of Rome; but neither have we found evidence that they were translated to Catalonia, as is here asserted.

[13] Tamayo Salazar makes them Spaniards by birth, yet not different from those Roman Martyrs. "Concerning St. Victor," he says, "if the truth is to be professed, I am entirely ignorant of what Martyr he may have been. But if room were given for conjectures, I would believe either that he was St. Victor, Bishop of Barcelona, who suffered in the time of the Emperor Claudius, is St. Victor the same as St. Vitalis? whose sacred remains the passage of time has obliterated — of whom we shall treat on the 4th of April — or that this is not about some individual Martyr called Victor, but about Vitalis, Archpriest of Toledo, who, having been the companion of Saints Zeno and Felicula in life, likewise wished to hold a place with them in the tomb; and therefore, when Count Oliba arranged to have their relics extracted from the Cemetery of Callistus, it is to be believed that some fragment of the bones of St. Vitalis likewise came with their remains. But since the praenomen of Vitalis was Victorius, through the lapse of ages, with the name of the Martyr forgotten, the Martyr survives known only by the title of Victor instead of Victorius." On which good faith the monastery of Serrateix united them. So he writes. But Domenec reports not some fragment of the bones of St. Victor (whom this author identifies with Vitalis), but the sacred body of St. Victor, preserved with great veneration in that monastery. Furthermore, the body of St. Vitalis the Martyr, which Pope Clement VIII gave to Sancho Davila, Bishop of Cartagena, in the year 1595, and which the Church of Avila received from him in the year 1600, from whom another Vitalis is preserved at Avila, is described in the Papal bull as "one entire venerable body of St. Vitalis the Martyr, from the most religious Cemetery of St. Callistus at the Catacombs." We consider this St. Vitalis to be entirely different not only from the St. Victor of Serrateix but also from the St. Vitalis who is the companion of Saints Felicula and Zeno, and we would treat of him separately on this day had we not already done so on the 6th of February, when St. Vitalis the Martyr is venerated at Avila with a double rite, as is clear from the Order of reciting the Divine Office printed at Madrid in the year 1635. The Bull of Clement concerning the donation of the body of St. Vitalis was printed by Tamayo Salazar at this 14th of February, and a portion of it by Thomas Tamayo de Vargas in his Investigations on Dexter's Chronicle, novitas 4, folio 96. Finally, it is nowhere read that Count Oliba arranged for the bodies of these Martyrs to be extracted from the Cemetery of St. Callistus, or that he gave them to the monastery of Serrateix.

[14] It seemed we could here conclude with Ferrarius in the Index to the General Catalogue of Saints who are not in the Roman Martyrology, where under the letter V he has: "Victor, Zeno, and Felicula, Martyrs, in the territory or diocese of Urgell, the 14th of February." But another controversy arises after the Chronicles of Flavius Dexter and Julian of Toledo were brought to light. And indeed in the latter, at number 37, the following is read: "St. Vitalis, Archpriest of Toledo, sent by St. Eugenius to console the Christians detained on the island of Pontia, is he St. Vitalis, Archpriest of Toledo? on the way consults St. Dionysius, Bishop of Paris, and then Clement. After visiting and consoling the Martyrs, he accompanies those sent into exile. When the latter died, returning to Rome, he suffered an illustrious martyrdom together with Ceno and Felicula, companions of his journey." In the Chronicle of Flavius Dexter at the year 110, number 6, the following is reported: "The wonderful struggle of St. Vitalis, the first Archpriest of Toledo (of those whom we know to have come), who with Zeno and Felicula had come to Toledo, and was he killed with Saints Zeno and Felicula under Trajan? and, having returned from the Chersonese to Rome, is written about to the Churches of the whole West." Moved by these authorities, Tamayo Salazar inscribed these Martyrs in his Hispanic Martyrology in these words: "At Rome, Saints Vitalis, Archpriest of Toledo, and Zeno and Felicula, Martyrs, who, adhering to the Blessed Marcellus Eugenius, Bishop of Toledo, were sent by him to the island of Pontia, and after returning to Rome, were at last seized by decree of the Emperor Trajan and crowned with martyrdom. Their bodies, finally brought to Spain, are honorably venerated: that of St. Vitalis at Avila, and those of Saints Zeno and Felicula in the monastery of Serrateix. Likewise there, of St. Victor the Martyr, whom, as we related above, he divines to be the one formerly called St. Vitalis, whom he thinks was called Victorius Vitalis Marcellus, was that Vitalis called Victorius Marcellus? because in the Chronicle of Julian of Toledo, at number 55, these words are read: 'Victorius Marcellus flourished, to whom Statius wrote. He was the brother of St. Marcellus, called Vitalis.'" He adds that Flavius Dexter in his Chronicle at the year 110, suppressing the name, reports the rest at number 7, where he says: "Marcellus, son of the brother of St. Marcellus, a pious man, is dear, as was also his uncle, to the Emperor Hadrian; to whom Papinius Statius dedicated a certain Forest, as to a most learned man." But how could St. Vitalis, as we said from Dexter, have died as a Martyr under Trajan in the year of Christ 110, and then have lived as one dear to the Emperor Hadrian, since Hadrian succeeded Trajan, who died on the 4th day before the Ides of August of the year 117? Wherefore Rodrigo Caro, at this passage of Dexter, calls this the fifth Marcellus and wonders that Thomas Tamayo confuses him with Vitalis.

[15] For us, as we said in the Acts of St. Vitalis on the 6th of February, there is neither the inclination nor the leisure to confirm or refute all these things; therefore we leave them to the credit of the cited authors. We wish only to remind the reader of this: no mention of him among the ancients, that in the ancient Martyrologies or Breviaries we have so far found no trace of St. Vitalis, Archpriest of Toledo, not even in the proper offices of the Church of Toledo. As for Saints Vitalis, Felicula, and Zeno in the ancient Breviaries — even in that of the Church of Burgos in Spain, printed in the year 1502 — a proper Prayer or Collect is recited, which we have given above; but different from it is the following, read among the people of Serrateix concerning Saints Victor, Felicula, and Zeno, which Domenec reports in these words: the Prayer for Saints Victor and companions: "O God, who grantest us to celebrate the feasts of thy holy Martyrs Victor, Felicula, and Zeno, grant us to rejoice in their companionship in eternal blessedness. Through our Lord," etc. Whether, moreover, they are to be considered the same or different, let the final decision rest with others.

ON ST. VALENTINE, PRIEST AND MARTYR, AT ROME ON THE VIA FLAMINIA,

IN THE YEAR 269.

Preliminary Commentary.

Valentine, Priest and Martyr, at Rome (St.)

By G. H.

[1] The illustrious memory of St. Valentine, Priest and Martyr of Rome, is found in all the sacred calendars, Breviaries, and Missals. The memory of St. Valentine in the Martyrologies. The ancient Roman Martyrology published by Rosweyde reads: "At Rome, of Valentine the Priest"; in the Centula manuscript is added "and Martyr." Bede, Usuard, Ado in both printed and manuscript codices, Rabanus, Notker, Bellini, the manuscript Martyrologies of Tournai (St. Martin's), the Laetia, Utrecht (St. Mary's), St. Cyriacus, and others, report in nearly the same words: "On the 16th day before the Kalends of March, at Rome, the birthday of Blessed Valentine the Priest, who, after many remarkable deeds of healing and teaching, was beaten with clubs and then beheaded under the Emperor Claudius." But the Roman Martyrology begins: "At Rome, on the Via Flaminia, the birthday of Blessed Valentine, Priest and Martyr, who after many remarkable deeds," etc. Certain copies add that he was beheaded for the faith of Christ. In a few this clause is read: "And by SS. Marius and Martha and their sons he was reverently committed to burial." Indeed, since they were then confined in prison, he was buried by Savinella, a noble matron. Other eulogies drawn from the Acts are found in Maurolycus, Galesini, Ghini, and Canisius.

[2] The Life of St. Valentine is contained in the Acts of SS. Marius, Martha, Audifax, and Abachum, Acts drawn from the Life of SS. Marius, Martha, etc. which we published on the 19th of January from Boninus Mombritius and several ancient manuscripts, and which we judged to be most worthy of trust; nor do we know what Baronius found objectionable in them, at the year of Christ 270, number 8, where he reports other things, but drawn from these same Acts in abridged form -- which from him were published in the third edition of Surius at this 14th of February, the earlier Acts which Surius had published, though in an emended style, being eliminated. The deeds of St. Valentine alone are presented by the Utrecht manuscript of St. Saviour and the Roman manuscript of the Fathers of the Oratory. They are distributed into six Lessons recited at Matins, a division which we retain. They agree with what is reported in the ancient Breviaries of Spain, Gaul, and Germany, with which we give them collated. In most Breviaries the same Prayer is read which appears in the Roman Missal and Breviary, from the Sacramentary of St. Gregory. In some Breviaries he is venerated together with SS. Vitalis, Felicula, and Zeno, with the name of Valentine placed first in the Prayer which we gave above concerning them. These same Acts in abridged form have been published by Lippelous, Haraeus, Ferrarius, and others, and by all who have translated the Lives of the Saints into the vernacular languages.

[3] St. Valentine underwent martyrdom under Claudius II, who began to reign about the year of Christ 268, around the 9th day before the Kalends of April, and continued until the beginning of the year 270, Martyrdom in the year 269. so that his death must necessarily be assigned to the year 269, for Claudius was no longer alive in the month of February of the following year. The arena of this athlete was the Via Flaminia, which, as Strabo reports in Book 5, was paved and constructed from Rome through Etruria and Umbria all the way to Ariminum; outside the Flaminian Gate from it, the gate of the city of Rome, which was formerly called the Flumentana Gate on account of the river Tiber, was afterward named the Flaminian Gate. William of Malmesbury, who flourished in the twelfth century of Christ, reports in Book 4 of his History of the Kings of England, under William II, that in subsequent times it was called the Gate of St. Valentine; for while describing the gates of Rome, he writes: "The second gate is the Flaminian, which is now called St. Valentine's, and the Flaminian Way; which was afterward called the Gate of St. Valentine and when it reaches the Milvian Bridge, it is called the Ravenna Way, because it leads to Ravenna. There, at the first milestone outside the city, St. Valentine rests in his own Church." In our own age it is called the Porta del Popolo, now called the Porta del Popolo because it is worn by the more frequent concourse of people. This Via Flaminia, or Via of St. Valentine, a little beyond the first milestone from the city, is crossed by the river Tiber at the place where the Milvian Bridge and beyond the Milvian Bridge (called Molbius by William of Malmesbury; in the manuscript Acts of St. Leopardus, Martyr, on the 30th of September, Molinus; in Italian, Ponte Mole) is still to be seen.

[4] Beyond this bridge, at the first milestone, as has been said, St. Valentine was beheaded; his sepulchre and the Acts report that Savinella collected his body and buried him in the same place where he was beheaded; a church built by Pope St. Julius they add, in the Roman manuscript, that a church was afterward built there by Pope Julius in honor of St. Valentine, Priest and Martyr, and magnificently adorned. Anastasius the Librarian, in his Lives of the Pontiffs, writes in his account of the deeds of the same Pope St. Julius that he constructed not only a church but also a cemetery at that place. cemetery "He made," he says, "two basilicas in the city of Rome, one near the Forum and another on the Via Flaminia. He also made three cemeteries: one on the Via Flaminia, another on the Via Aurelia, and another on the Via Portuensis." Paul Aringhi, in Book 4 of Roma Subterranea, chapter 39, asserts that the one cemetery situated on the Via Flaminia is the same that is called to this day by the name of Blessed Pope Julius, who built it, and likewise of St. Valentine the Martyr, who was buried there. Pope St. Julius held the See from the year 336 to the year 351, and his feast is celebrated on the 12th of April.

[5] After this earlier church was destroyed, Pope Theodore, as the same Anastasius relates, built a church to Blessed Valentine on the Via Flaminia near the Milvian Bridge from the ground up, which he himself dedicated and to which he offered many gifts. Theodore was succeeded by St. Martin in the year 647, as we have shown elsewhere. another church built anew by Pope Theodore The same church was adorned by other Pontiffs. Benedict II, who held the See in the year 684, "in the church of Blessed Valentine on the Via Flaminia made a covering for the altar, with clasps and frames, and around it a most precious and very ample gold-embroidered cloth." adorned by Benedict II In the following century, St. Hadrian I, who held the See from the year 772 to 795, by St. Hadrian I "made in the basilica of the Holy Saviour a vestment of stauracin, that is, a greater curtain of four-fold tapestries... In the basilica of Blessed Valentine he likewise made a vestment of stauracin." Leo III, the successor of St. Hadrian, "in the church of St. Valentine made a gold-embroidered vestment, by St. Leo III, by Gregory IV and another vestment of most beautiful deep-dyed fabric." And afterward: "He also made in the church of St. Valentine the Martyr, which is situated outside the walls where his body rests, a silver crown weighing six pounds. The same most holy Pontiff, with the most prudent care, magnificently restored from scratch the roof and fabric of the basilica of Blessed Valentine the Martyr on the Via Flaminia, which were on the verge of collapse from extreme age." Finally, Gregory IV, who governed the Church from the year 827, "in the church of St. Valentine made a vestment of deep-dyed fabric and gammadiae of eight-fold work." So writes Anastasius. Now a gammadia, or gammadium, is a patriarchal and episcopal vestment, so called from the triangular form worked in gold which imitated the shape of the letter gamma. Stauracin vestments were those in which vine tendrils were woven: staurakia, according to Moschopulus, are helikes, that is, spiral vine tendrils; they were called "four-fold" and "eight-fold" from their pattern, as our own Ludovicus de la Cerda judges in his Adversaria Sacra, chapter 55, section 13, whom one may consult.

[6] Moreover, that the church of St. Valentine was once most celebrated and distinguished by exceptional veneration A solemn procession to the church of St. Valentine during the Greater Litanies is indicated by the established rite of ancient custom, according to which the entire Clergy of the city of Rome proceeded to it whenever the public supplications called the Greater Litanies were held, which were customarily celebrated on the feast of St. Mark. "Then," says Aringhi in chapter 39, "the whole assembly of the people gathered at the church of Blessed Lawrence in Lucina, with the Librarian himself as witness in his account of the deeds of Pope St. Leo III; thence all and each proceeded in order to the same church of St. Valentine; from which, crossing the Milvian Bridge and the Neronian Meadows in solemn rite, they advanced to the basilica of St. Peter, arriving in one body and in a unanimous throng in the manner of supplicants." The order of this sacred and venerable supplication is recited in two most ancient manuscript codices of the same basilica, where the Collects which were customarily recited in the same supplication are also inserted. Aringhi lists five of them under these titles: "The 7th day before the Kalends of May. The Greater Litany. At St. Lawrence, Prayer I for the Collect. At St. Valentine, II. Near the Milvian Bridge, III. At the Holy Cross, IV. And in the Atrium of St. Peter, V."

[7] Finally, lest anything be wanting to the pious and religious veneration of St. Valentine and the celebrity of his church, the Abbey of St. Valentine this same church was once honored with the title of an Abbey and is listed among the other Abbeys of the City by Peter Manlius in Aringhi with these words: "Outside the City, on the Via Flaminia, the Abbey of St. Valentine." In the ancient ritual of the basilica of St. Peter these words are also said to be read: "The Abbey of St. Valentine near the bridge." But now, as may be seen, Aringhi adds, the church lies buried in ruins and utterly neglected; yet its memory, as well as that of the cemetery itself, has not entirely faded away. For, as he reports in chapter 41, while Bosio, that lynx-eyed investigator of sacred antiquities, frequently traverses and surveys the Via Flaminia in search of any cemeteries that might perchance lie hidden there, vestiges of the demolished church in the villa of the Hermit Friars of St. Augustine, which is on the same road, proceeding to the right looking toward the Milvian Bridge, he came upon certain vestiges of the most ancient church of Blessed Valentine, namely, the very meager remains of its walls, which now lie entirely buried under the ruins. Moreover, this villa is situated at the foot of a hill which Bosio attests was called by the name of Valentine in certain ancient deeds of his villa. the hill of St. Valentine That villa, formerly belonging to Bosio, now to Abbot Francis and Lawrence de Rosa, brothers, nobles of Parma, is situated on the summit of the same hill; at the foot of which, a certain cavity presented itself to the investigator, into which, when he had first entered, he discovered a cemetery path that led to a certain place exhibiting the form of a small chapel entrance to the cemetery or at least of a chamber, in which he learned that certain sacred images still survived, although for the most part faded. So writes Aringhi, who presents an illustration of the chapel, together with two plates of the objects found in it.

[8] From this shrine of St. Valentine, the body of the holy Martyr was transferred within the City and placed in the church of St. Praxedes in the Monti district, the body of St. Valentine in St. Praxedes where Panciroli, in chapter 42, reports it is piously preserved to this day. But the head of the Saint was deposited in the church of St. Sebastian outside the same Flaminian Gate, which the same Panciroli, in Region 10, chapter 5, reports is called the church of SS. Valentine and Sebastian the head in St. Sebastian's; a finger in St. Clement's and has a monastery attached to it; in his Index he adds that a finger of the same Valentine is in the church of St. Clement, and that other relics are displayed in other churches. Masini, in his survey of Bologna, reports that certain relics of the same St. Valentine are preserved in two churches of Bologna. relics at Bologna At Macerata in the March of Ancona, in the church of the Society of Jesus dedicated to St. John, there is an arm of St. Valentine, an arm at Macerata and it is believed to be that of this St. Valentine, Priest and Martyr.

[9] Another arm of the same St. Valentine, Priest and Martyr, is reported another in Belgium to be preserved and publicly exhibited for the veneration of the Christian faithful in the church of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Denis in the Forest of Brochorensis, two miles from Mons in Hainaut, according to Raissius in his Hierogazophylacium Belgicum. Among the sacred relics of the Professed House of the Society of Jesus at Antwerp, which John Malderus, Bishop of Antwerp, approved on the 30th of October in the year 1625, there is a large portion of bone of St. Valentine, certain relics at Antwerp concerning which, along with other relics received together, the following is read in the episcopal diploma, under letter I: "A long bone of St. Severus, Martyr, one of the Four Crowned Ones. Half a long bone of St. Valerius, Martyr. A large portion of bone of St. Valentine, Martyr and Priest. A long bone of St. Zeno, Martyr. Father Charles Scribanius, having received these relics in the year 1615 by permission of His Holiness and of the Reverend Father General, delivered them to the Professed House on the 14th of August 1619, as is attested by his letters sealed with the seal of the Society." Concerning St. Zeno we have treated above on this day. St. Valerius is venerated on the 14th of June, and St. Severus on the 8th of November. In Gaul, Saussay testifies in his Gallican Martyrology that certain relics of St. Valentine exist, in these words: "On this same day shines the triumph of St. Valentine, Priest and Martyr, and in Gaul a portion of whose relics was brought from Rome to Gaul together with several precious relics of other saints, and was deposited at Melun on the Seine in the monastery of St. Peter, not without a radiance of divine signs."

ACTS

From the Utrecht and Roman manuscripts, the Roman Breviary of the year 1522, and others, collated with the Life of SS. Marius and Martha, 19th of January.

Valentine, Priest and Martyr, at Rome (St.)

BHL Number: 8465

From manuscripts.

Lesson I

In the time when Claudius was persecuting the Christians, he seized a certain Priest, a venerable man named Valentine, St. Valentine, when the Emperor Claudius flattered him and shut him in prison in fetters and chains. After two days he ordered him to be brought before him in his palace near the amphitheater. When he had been presented before him, he said to him: "Why do you not enjoy our friendship and live with the assembly of our Republic? I hear of remarkably admirable wisdom in you, and yet, being wise, you display yourself in the superstition of vanity." He shows the truth of the Christian faith Valentine the Priest answered and said: "If you knew the gift of the Lord, you too would rejoice, and your Republic with you, and you would reject the demons and the idols made by hand, and confess one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, and His Son Jesus Christ." A certain counselor of the law who was standing by Claudius answered and the vanity of the gods and said in a loud voice to Blessed Valentine the Priest: "And what do you dispute concerning the god Jupiter or Mercury?" Valentine the Priest answered and said: "They were most wretched and base men, who throughout the whole time of their lives always lived wickedly in impurities and pleasures and the disgraces of their bodies. But show me their genealogy, and you will see how base they were."

Lesson II

The counselor of the law answered, crying out in a loud voice: "He has blasphemed the Gods and the rulers of the Republic." On that same day Claudius listened more patiently, and answered Valentine the Priest, saying: He instructs Claudius, who listened kindly "If Christ is God, why do you not reveal to me what is true?" Valentine the Priest answered and said: "Let your clemency hear. Do you listen to me, O King, and your soul shall be saved and your Republic shall increase, and your enemies shall be destroyed, and you shall be victorious in all things, and you shall enjoy your kingdom here and in the world to come. This only do I urge: that you repent of the blood of the Saints which you have shed, and believe in Jesus Christ, and be baptized, and you shall be saved." Claudius answered and said to those standing by: "Hear, citizens of Rome and assembly of the Republic, what sound doctrine is proclaimed by this man." Claudius, turned aside Calpurnius the Prefect answered and said in a loud voice: "You are seduced, O Prince, by false doctrine. And if it is right that we should abandon what we have worshiped and adored from our cradles, judge for yourselves."

Lesson III

In that same hour the heart of Claudius was changed, and with sadness he handed him over to Calpurnius the Prefect, saying: He is handed over by Calpurnius the Prefect to Asterius "Listen to him patiently, and if the counsel he declares is not sound, do to him what the laws have prescribed against a sacrilegious man. But if it is sound, let his just petition be heard." Then Calpurnius the Prefect, taking Valentine the Priest, gave him to a certain Asterius, his officer, saying: "If you can humble him with gentle words, I will make your teaching known to Claudius, and you shall be his friend, and you shall be multiplied in riches and possessions." Asterius then took him and led him to his house. Before him he invokes Christ And when Valentine the Priest had entered the house of Asterius, he knelt down and prayed, saying: "O God of all things visible and invisible, Maker and Creator of the human race, who sent Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver us from this present world and to lead us from darkness to the true light, who, commanding us, said: Matthew 11:28 'Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest'; do You convert this household, and grant it light after darkness, that they may know You as Lord and Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen."

Lesson IV

When Asterius the officer heard this, he said to Valentine the Priest: "I marvel at your wisdom, that you say your Christ is the true light." He instructs him Valentine the Priest answered, saying in a loud voice: "Truly the Lord Jesus Christ, who was born of the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary, is the true light, who enlightens every man coming into the world." Asterius answered, saying: "If He enlightens every man, I shall now put it to the test whether He is God, or I shall extinguish your deception." And he added, saying: "I have an adopted daughter whom I have loved from the cradle, and suddenly, nearly two years ago, she was disfigured by the blemish of a cataract; I will bring her to you, so that, when she has been cured, I will do whatever you command." Valentine the Priest answered and said: his blind daughter "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, bring her to me." Asterius then ran anxiously and brought the blind girl to Blessed Valentine the Priest. Blessed Valentine, raising his hands to heaven, his eyes streaming with tears, having invoked Christ said: "Lord God Almighty, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Father of mercies, who

sent Your Son, our Lord, to call us from darkness to the true light, I invoke You, an unworthy sinner -- You who wish all to be saved and will that none should perish -- that they may know that You are God, and the Father of all, and the Creator, who opened the eyes of the man born blind and raised the rotting Lazarus from the tomb. I invoke You, who are the true light and the Lord of all Princes and Powers, that not my will but Yours be done upon this Your handmaid, and deign to enlighten her with the light of Your understanding." and by the laying on of hands he gives her sight And he placed his hands upon her eyes, saying: "Lord Jesus Christ, enlighten Your handmaid, for You are God, the true light." And when he had said this, her eyes were opened.

Lesson V

When Asterius saw this, he fell at the feet of Blessed Valentine, and both of them were acting thus, saying: "By Christ, through whom we have come to know the light, he believes we beseech you that, since you know what must be done, you do it, so that our souls may be saved." Valentine the Priest answered and said: "Then do what I say: and if you believe with your whole heart, shatter all your idols, and fast, and release the penalties of all, after a three-day fast and let each one be baptized in his own confession, and he shall be saved." Then he prescribed for them a fast of three days, and because Asterius had many Christians in his custody, he released them all. When the three days were completed, he baptizes him with his household, numbering about forty-four on the holy Lord's Day, he baptized Asterius with his entire household. And he summoned to himself the holy Bishop Callistus, who came and confirmed Asterius with his entire household, souls of both sexes numbering approximately forty-four. When Marius and his wife Martha, together with their sons Audifax and Abachum, heard this -- SS. Marius, Martha, Audifax, and Abachum rejoicing namely, that the blind girl had been given sight by Blessed Valentine, and that through her illumination the entire household of Asterius had come to faith -- they came with joy to the house of Asterius, giving thanks to God, and they remained there thirty-two days.

After these days, Claudius made inquiry about Asterius his officer. And it was reported to him that the girl in his house had been given sight, and that through this sign he had been baptized in the name of Christ, together with his entire household, by Valentine the Priest. Enraged, he sent soldiers and seized all whom he found in his house. When these were killed by command of the Emperor And when they had been brought in chains -- among them were Marius and Martha, Audifax and Abachum, most noble persons from Persia, who had come to pray at the shrines of the holy Apostles -- he ordered them to be separated from the assembly of the Saints, and commanded that Asterius with his entire household be led in chains to the city of Ostia and there, under the examination of punishments, breathe his last. He ordered that Marius, Martha, Audifax, and Abachum be heard in person. But he commanded that Valentine the Priest be beaten with clubs and undergo the sentence of beheading. St. Valentine is beheaded He was beheaded on the Via Flaminia on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of March. His body was collected by a certain matron, Savinella, and she buried him in the same place where he was beheaded, he is buried receiving the crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him. Afterward, a church was built there by Pope Julius in honor of St. Valentine, Priest and Martyr, a church is built for him and magnificently adorned, in which, to those who devoutly seek them, the benefits of the Lord are bestowed to this very day.

ON ST. VALENTINE, ROMAN MARTYR, AT SOCUELLAMOS IN SPAIN.

Valentine, Roman Martyr, at Socuellamos in Spain (St.)

By G. H.

[1] Tamayo de Salazar, in his Spanish Martyrology under the 14th of February, writes: "At Rome, of St. Valentine the Martyr, who, seized for the name of Christ and afflicted with tortures, St. Valentine the Martyr is venerated on February 14 at length flew as an intrepid champion to the heavenly realms. His sacred relics, granted by Pope Urban VIII, were extracted from the cemetery of Callixtus and delivered to the Brothers of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity Discalced, and placed in their monastery which is called Socuellamos, where they rest with honor."

[2] Concerning the cemetery of Callixtus and the various bodies of Martyrs exhumed from it in our memory, we treated on the 12th of February, on the occasion of St. Damian the Martyr, his body exhumed at Rome whose body was brought to Salamanca by the same authority of Urban VIII by which the body of St. Valentine was extracted from the said cemetery. Both were donated by Giovanni Battista de Alteriis, as we there stated, Bishop of Camerino and acting Vicar of His Eminence the Vicar of the City of Rome, on the 9th of January 1640, to the Reverend Father Brother John of the Annunciation, Procurator General in the Roman Curia of the Discalced Brothers of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity for the Redemption of Captives, with permission granted to transport or transfer them from the City, to donate them to others, and to place and expose them in churches, so that they might be devoutly venerated by the pious faithful.

[3] Furthermore, Salazar, after citing the public records of the donation, adds that the body of St. Valentine the Martyr, together with thirty-five other holy bodies, was donated by the said Reverend Father Brother John of the Annunciation in the same year, on the 28th of August, to the Discalced Brothers of the Most Holy Trinity of the Congregation of Spain; sent to Spain and that those holy bodies, having been brought to Spain, were distributed among the convents of the Order by the Reverend Father Brother Isidore of St. John, Minister General of the same Order, and that the relics of St. Valentine were given to the convent called Socuellamos. donated to the monastery of Socuellamos This is evident both from the original document signed by Giovanni Battista Maro, a Roman Priest, Doctor of Both Laws, and Apostolic Notary, and from the instruments of donation and distribution drawn up before the Apostolic Notary Lambert Titus at Madrid on the 31st of March 1641.

ON ST. VALENTINE, ROMAN MARTYR, AT HAMES AND ERMENTIERE IN BELGIUM.

Valentine, Roman Martyr, at Hames and Ermentiere in Belgium (St.)

By G. H.

[1] Two sacred bodies, to which the name of Valentine the Martyr was inscribed, the body of St. Valentine the Martyr at Ghent were brought to Belgium, having been elevated at Rome from subterranean chapels. One of these had rested in the cemetery of St. Cyriaca and is now venerated at Ghent in the church of the Society of Jesus on the second Sunday after Easter, having first been exposed for public veneration in the year 1651, when that Sunday fell on the 23rd of April, under which date we shall give the authentic documents. another at Hames in Hainaut The other body of St. Valentine the Martyr was obtained by the Most Excellent Lord Louis, Count of Egmont, in the year 1623 from Gregory XV, from the walls of the cemetery of St. Lawrence on the Via Flaminia, and was first deposited in a venerable place in the chapel of his castle at Hames in Hainaut, near the town of Ath, where it also became renowned for miracles; and when invoked as a helper, it was especially of aid and assistance to those suffering from hernias. So writes Raissius in his Hierogazophylacium Belgicum, page 238. It was venerated there on the 14th of February, on which day certain relics of St. Valentine are now displayed in the church of the said village of Hames, not without a concourse of the people. now brought to Ermentiere But the remaining body was transferred to Ermentiere, a town of French Flanders on the river Lys, and is preserved in the monastery of St. Bridget.

ON SS. VALENTINE AND THE TWENTY-FOUR SOLDIER-MARTYRS IN AFRICA.

Valentine, Martyr in Africa (St.) Twenty-four Soldier-Martyrs in Africa

By G. H.

We have surveyed thus far the principal regions of Europe called upon for the veneration of the SS. Valentines and their sacred relics on this 14th of February. Now ancient Africa comes forward and presents St. Valentine as an illustrious Prince with a sacred cohort of soldiers. Testimony of this exists in the most ancient Roman Martyrology which we call that of St. Jerome, in which the following is read: "In Africa, of Valentine and twenty-four soldiers." The remaining knowledge of these Martyrs lies hidden.