In what I imagine was a blow to the holiday, Valentine's Day got to share today with Ash Wednesday. Which got me thinking: why is the holiday no longer St. Valentine's Day? It looks like it may have something to do with the 1969 reformation of the General Roman Calendar, which is where the church sets feast days and other celebrations. It took a number of saints off the main calendar, but they can still appear on national or local calendars. So it's kind of a demotion, but not the revocation of sainthood that some people assume.

All of which is the long way around to not having to troll social media this year for...

Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Yup, 40 days of saints who have been put on the back burner. And as you might have expected, we'll start with the obvious choice for today.

Day 1: St. Valentine

Very little is known about Valentine, to the point where he may actually be two people whose acts were commingled over time. The legends about Valentine have him as a third century Italian bishop who restored the sight of a judge's daughter, to whom he left a note signed "Your Valentine." He may have done this while in prison for performing banned marriages, either for Christian couples or for soldiers so they would not have to go to war.

In either case, the stories tend to agree that he was martyred on the Via Flamina in Rome (they agree less on the year, with about a half-dozen to choose from), most likely on February 14. The adoption of that day as a romantic holiday is not clear, apparently it may have something to do with the date when birds choose a mate? I've also seen something saying his feast day was promoted in a move to replace the Roman holiday of Lupercalia. That seems more likely.

Regardless of how many Valentines there may have been, what he may have done while alive, and when he may have been killed, he's still a saint. So feel free to call today St. Valentine's Day, I suppose it's retro if nothing else.