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