ON ST. VALENTINE II, BISHOP OF TERNI
About the year of Christ 533.
CommentaryValentine II, Bishop of Terni in Italy (St.)
[1] The Church venerates a Valentine, Bishop and Martyr of Terni, on February 14. Ferrarius records another, much younger, Bishop of the same See, in his General Catalogue of Saints under January 7 in these words: The birthday of St. Valentine II. "At Terni in Umbria, St. Valentine the Bishop and Confessor." And more fully in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, from a certain MS. Martyrology of the Church of Terni, in which, however, as he says, some things are said of him that pertain to St. Valentine of Passau.
[2] His life from Ferrarius. Concerning this bishop of Terni, the same Ferrarius writes: "Valentine, the second of this name to be Bishop of Terni, was born and raised at Terni. Educated first in the liberal arts and then so advanced in the Christian religion both in learning and character that he was placed by Pope Gelasius I over the Church of St. Eusebius at Rome, and shortly afterwards promoted to the Bishopric of Terni. He brought many Arians who were in that city at the time He converts many. to the Catholic faith by his teaching and the example of his innocent life. He presided over the Church for about thirty-nine years and died on the 7th of the Ides of January January 7. His body, deposited in the church of St. Zeno the Martyr outside the city, was distinguished by many miracles." Thus Ferrarius. St. Gelasius held the see from March 2, 492, to November 21, 496.
[3] Baronius also mentions this Valentine in his Notes on the Roman Martyrology under February 14, when he treats of Valentine I, He suffers much. and cites Peter de Natalibus, who in Book 1, Chapter 15, reports that St. Proculus was ordained to the priesthood by him, and that both suffered much from the pagan Goths (perhaps he meant to write "Arian"), and were even crowned with martyrdom — which, however, Ferrarius does not write concerning Valentine. We shall treat of St. Proculus on April 14. This Terni is in Umbria, surrounded by the river Nar, from which it also received its name; it is now commonly called Terani or Terni. For there is another on the river Liris, not far from Aquino; and another in Picenum.