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This page last updated 14 October 2007  

Does our society need a Valentine?
Robert Chiore
February 2002


At first glance, St Valentine's Day might appear to be a totally secular celebration (not to mention a temptation to break post-Christmas diets) But a little browsing into the good saints (there may be several) shows that there is a spiritual side to the holiday as well. The Valentine saints defied the establishment of their day in the name of human kindness: marrying Roman soldiers to their loves and so defying the Emperor's view that unmarried soldiers made for a tougher army, or bringing medical care to the poor of the ancient world.

Maybe the Valentine stories are as relevant as ever. Often the ego-driven world of today seems as insensitive to family needs as that ancient Roman emperor.

Here are four sites to enjoy this Valentine season.

http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/valentine/
This US cable channel site devotes several pages to the history of St. Valentine's Day

http://www.stvalentines.net/stvalentine.htm
An Australian commercial site with a brief biography of the saints.

http://www.stpetersnottingham.org/articles.htm
An Anglican parish site which includes this saint in its roster of saints' biographies.

http://www.pictureframes.co.uk/pages/saint_valentine.htm#story
A commercial site in the UK with a separate Valentine page.

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