Hail Bishop Valentine

[poliphilo]

Hail Bishop Valentine, whose day this is,
All the air is thy diocese,
And all the chirping choristers
And other birds are thy parishioners,
Thou marriest each year
The lyric lark and the grave whispering dove,
The sparrow that neglects his life for love,
The household bird with the red stomacher,
Thou mak'st the black bird speed as soon
As doth the goldfinch or the halcyon;
The husband cock looks out and straight is sped
And meets his wife, which brings her feather bed.
This day more cheerfully than ever shine,
This day which might enflame thyself, old Valentine.

John Donne.

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

St Valentine was an early Christian martyr- quite obscure really- and I think his association with
lurve is an accident of the calendar.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

I have some recollection of St. Valentine marrying people in secret and getting hanged for it. I'll have to Google him and see if I'm right.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Kate says he probably had his heart cut out, hence the nifty icons in his honor!

Ick.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

I found this on a Roman Catholic page:

St. Valentine was:

a) a priest in the Roman Empire who helped persecuted Christians during the reign of Claudius II, was thrown in jail and later beheaded on Feb. 14.

b) a Catholic bishop of Terni who was beheaded, also during the reign of Claudius II.

c) someone who secretly married couples when marriage was forbidden, or suffered in Africa, or wrote letters to his jailer's daughter, and was probably beheaded.

d) all, some, or possibly none of the above.

If you guessed d), give yourself a box of chocolates.

--

(Which means nobody knows anything.)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

So we can imagine him as we like.

He's some bloke who got his head chopped off.

I wish Kate's suggestion were true.