In the tradition of Chaucer

It would be hard to imagine sitting in a church building somewhere on February 14th singing songs or chanting liturgy dedicated to the honor of a martyr of Rome who lived circa 268 ACE.  He was taken prisoner for helping persecuted Christians during the third century.  While he was in prison, he healed his jailor's daughter from blindness.  This came to the attention of the emperor of Rome, Claudius II, who then sent for him to discuss his miracle.  Claudius told him he needed to pay homage to the Roman gods instead of giving credit to a pagan god for this miracle.  The man returned the favor by asking Claudius to switch to the Christian God, the only true God.  For that Claudius ordered his swift execution.

Well, it could be that February 14th would be celebrated as a religious holiday because the martyr's name was St. Valentine.  In different martyrologies a couple of other Valentines surfaced for their religioius service and subsequent martyrdoms, but the above story is the one that is venerated.  Chanting liturgy to honor St. Valentine lasted until the 1380s when Geoffrey Chaucer wrote a poem about lovers, using the metaphor of birds gathering to choose their mates on St. Valentine's day.  Oh, from then on, February 14th was all about lovers rather than martyrs.  In some very famous letters, (The Pastons) from 1477, a young woman called her boyfriend her valentine.  And in 1600, in DeVere's Hamlet, Ophelia mentioned that she was Hamlet's valentine, probably meaning he had made love to her, but at least meaning that he wanted to make love to her.

Let the good times roll.  It's 2014.  Valentine's Day is all about loving our one true loves.  So, in the tradition of Chaucer, I send out this song: