newsDenis Waterford 9105453

Saint Valentine, officially Saint Valentine of Rome, is a widely recognized third-century Roman saint commemorated on February 14th and since the High Middle Ages is associated with a tradition of courtly love.

All that is reliably known of the saint commemorated on February 14th is his name and that he was martyred and buried at a cemetery on the Via Flaminia close to the Ponte Milvio bridge, to the north of Rome on that day. It is uncertain whether St. Valentine is to be identified as one saint or the conflation of two saints of the same name. Several different martyrologies have been added to later hagiographies that are unreliable.

Because so little is reliably known of him, in 1969 the Catholic Church removed his name from the General Roman Calendar, leaving his liturgical celebration to local calendars.

The Roman Catholic Church continues to recognize him as a saint, listing him as such in the February 14th entry in the Roman Martyrology, and authorizing liturgical veneration of him on February 14th in any place where that day is not devoted to some other obligatory celebration in accordance with the rule that on such a day the Mass may be that of any saint listed in the Martyrology for that day.

The attached image is the 3D mapping which revealed what St. Valentine really looked like (Caters News).