Friday 14 February 2025 is SAINT Valentine's Day

 

Shrine of St Valentine

Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Whitefriar St, Dublin [Source]

I first posted this two years ago and included material I used on 12 February 2009.

The core of the stories about St Valentine is that this young Roman priest, who was what we would now call a diocesan priest, was martyred for officiating at weddings when Emperor Claudius II, ‘the Cruel’, forbade them because he was engaged in so many wars and needed the young men to fight in them.

In the Philippines (where I was based most of the time from 1971 to 2017) St Valentine’s Day is almost always referred to as ‘Valentine’s Day’. Indeed the ‘St’ is left out in most English-speaking countries. For many young people it is simply a day to express innocent friendship. For many married couples it is a day for renewing their love for one another. But for many unmarried young adults it is, quite frankly, a day for fornicating. This would be the case in many other countries, as would adultery.

Marriage is more and more under attack in the West. I can think of no better patron saint for priests and married couples involved in strengthening marriage than St Valentine.

And I also think that the Church should put more emphasis on marriage than on the family, since the sacrament of matrimony is the foundation of the family and the vocation to be a spouse is more fundamental than the vocation to be a parent. In God’s plan, parenthood is meant to be a consequence of the two, husband and wife, becoming one.

Above is in the shrine of St Valentine in the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, known to everyone in my native city, Dublin,  as Whitefriar Street Church. It belongs to the Carmelite Friars (OCarm). 

The website of the friars contains a number of photos of the shrine along with a history of how the relics of St Valentine came to be there. It also includes this beautiful prayer.

Prayer to St Valentine

Saint Valentine,
true servant who shed his blood
in defence of the sacraments and faith in Jesus Christ,
intercede for us today, we pray.

Gain for us the strength to be steadfast like you
in witnessing to the true faith to the end of our days,
and help us never to lose hope in the Lord
who is always near us.

Intercede for those men and women who are preparing for marriage:
help them to know one another and the true meaning
of the sacramental bond they are preparing to enter.

Intercede for those who are joined together
in the sacrament of marriage,
that they may never give up when trials come their way
but may remain faithful to each other,
and to the Lord who blessed their union.

May your love for the Lord be an inspiration for
our love for each other, for the love between husband and wife,
and for the love and charity we extend to all whom we meet.
Amen.

Though the feast of St Valentine is no longer on the general calendar of the Church that came into effect late in 1969 when the 'New Mass' was introduced by Pope St Paul VI, it is still on the calendar where the Traditional Latin Mass is celebrated, using the Roman Missal of 1962 approved by Pope St John XXIII.

There are many churches named after St Valentine, particularly in the Region of Trentino-South Tyrol (Trentino-Alto Adige in Italian). Below is that in Malé in that region.

Church of San Valentino, Malé, Italy

[Wikipedia; photo]

May I wish everyone a Happy 

SAINT Valentine's Day!

Virtual choir of Carmelite nuns sings St Teresa of Ávila's 'Nada te turbe', 'Let nothing disturb you'.

St Teresa of Ávila, Filippo della Valle, 1754

St Peter's Basilica, Vatican [Web Gallery of Art]

St Teresa of Ávila, who lived from 1515 to 1582 in Spain, could never have imagined the internet, though if she were around today I'm certain that she'd be involved in this digital continent, as Pope Benedict calls it, and as a woman who travelled considerably, despite being a contemplative nun, she would certain journey along the digital highways - las 'calles' digitales - of Pope Francis.

Eighty-three followers of St Teresa, Discalced Carmelite nuns from 24 countries, recently created a virtual choir to sing and record the saint's poem Nada te turbe - Let nothing disturb you. Sr Claire Sokol of the Carmelites in Reno, Nevada, wrote the music.

Nada te turbe   Let nothing disturb you

by St Teresa of Ávila

Nada te turbe,

nada te espante,  

todo se pasa,

Dios no se muda;

la paciencia

todo lo alcanza;

quien a Dios tiene

nada le falta:

Sólo Dios basta.

Let nothing disturb you,

let nothing frighten you,

everything passes,

but God stays.

Patience reaches it all;

he who has God

nothing lacks:

God alone suffices.

Eleva tu pensamiento,

al cielo sube,

por nada te acongojes,

nada te turbe.

Lift your thinking,

raise up to heaven,

let nothing anguish you,

let nothing disturb you.

A Jesucristo sigue

con pecho grande,

y, venga lo que venga,

nada te espante.

Follow Jesus Christ

with an open heart,

and, no matter what may come,

let nothing frighten you.

¿Ves la gloria del mundo?

Es gloria vana;

nada tiene de estable,

todo se pasa.

See the glory of the world?

It's vainglory;

it is not everlasting,

everything passes.

Aspira a lo celeste,

que siempre dura;

fiel y rico en promesas,

Dios no se muda.

Yearn for the celestial

that lasts forever:

faithful and rich in promises,

God doesn't change.

Ámala cual merece

bondad inmensa;

pero no hay amor fino

sin la paciencia.

Love it the way it deserves

immense kindness;

but there is not fine love

without the patience.

Confianza y fe viva

mantenga el alma,

que quien cree y espera

todo lo alcanza.

Confidence and alive faith

let the soul maintain,

that he who believes and hopes

reaches it all.

Del infierno acosado

aunque se viere,

burlará sus furores

quien a Dios tiene.

Although harassed by hell

one may see himself,

he who has God

will defeat its rage.

Vénganle desamparos,

cruces, desgracias;

siendo Dios tu tesoro

nada te falta.

Come abandonment,

crosses, misfortune;

God being your treasure,

you lack nothing.

Id, pues, bienes del mundo;

id dichas vanas;

aunque todo lo pierda,

sólo Dios basta.

Go, then, wordly goods

go, vain happiness;

even if everything is lost

God alone suffices.

Copy of an original painting by Fray Juan de la Miseria when St Teresa was 61.

My thanks to Sr Mary Carmela OCD of the Carmel of Vilvoorde, Belgium who sent me the link to the video. Sr Carmela belonged to the Carmel of Cebu and has written in MISYONonline.com, the magazine of the Columbans in the Philippines of which I am editor, of how three Filipino nuns left their communities to join that in Vilvoorde, founded in 1469 and the oldest existing community of Carmelite nuns in the world. Another article she wrote for MISYONonline.com, Touches of God, led Sr Marie Paul Thérèse From Iligan to Vilvoorde (via the Carmel in Cebu).

Sr Marie Paul Thérèse on the day of her First Profession

Vilvoorde Community Easter Sunday 2014

Sr Marie Paul Thérèse kneeling on right with Sr Mary Carmela standing behind her

English

St John of the Cross, 14 December

Del Verbo Divino

San Juan de la Cruz

Del Verbo divino
la Virgen preñada
viene de camino :
¡ si les dais posada !

Concerning the Divine Word

St John of the Cross

With the divinest Word, the Virgin

Made pregnant, down the road

Comes walking, if you'll grant her

A room in your abode 

Translation by Roy Campbell

A View of Toledo, El Greco, painted 1597-99 (Web Gallery of Art)

El Greco's landscape of Toledo depicts the Priory in which John was held captive, just below the old Muslim Alcazar and perched on the banks of the Tajo on high cliffs. (From Wikipedia).

From The Ascent of Mount Carmel by St John of the Cross

(Office of Readings, Advent Week 2, Monday)

When (God) gave us, as he did, his Son, who is his one Word, he spoke everything to us, once and for all in that one Word. There is nothing further for him to say.

Drawing of the Crucifixion, St John of the Cross

From the Spiritual Canticle of St John of the Cross

(Office of Readings, Feast of St John of the Cross, 14 December)

There are depths to be fathomed in Christ. He is like a rich mine with many recesses containing treasures, and no matter how men try to fathom them the end is never reached. Rather, in each recess, men keep on finding here and there new veins of new riches.

St John wrote much of the Spiritual Canticle while he was imprisoned by other Carmelite friars.

The Weaver, Vincent van Gogh, painted 1883-84 (Web Gallery of Art)

When John's father Gonzalo, who came from a family that wasn't poor, married Catalina, an orphan who was, he was rejected and forced by circumstances to work with his wife as a weaver. When Gonzalo died Catalina continued in that line of work.

The Carmelite Monastery in Ozamiz City, where I worked during my early years in the Philippines, employs weavers. St John of the Cross is the patron of the monastery. Please remember the nuns in your prayers.

Religious Professions in Belgium and the Philippines yesterday

Sr Marie Elizabeth of the Divine Mercy OCD (standing)

Yesterday Sr Marie Elizabeth of the Divine Mercy, from the Philippines, pronounced her first vows in the Carmel of Our Lady of Consolation, Vilvoorde, Belgium, the oldest existing community of Discalced Carmelite nuns in the world, founded in 1469 by Blessed John Soreth. Her companion in the photo, Sr Marie Paul Therese, also from the Philippines will make her profession, God willing, within this year. The officiaiting priest was Fr Paul De Bois OCD, a former provincial of the Discalced Carmelites in Belgium.

I visited the Carmel in Vilvoorde in 2005.

A group of Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family in the Philippines



Meanwhile, another Discalced Carmelite, Fr Alan Rieger OCD, an American, was the celebrant at a Mass in the Diocese of Bacolod, where I live, when seven young women made their first profession as Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family. I was unable to be there as I am directing some retreatants at the Carmelite Retreat House, Ozamiz City, across the road from the Carmelite Monastery. The retreat house is right on the sea-shore. Father Alan is no stranger here as he has come a number of times on official visitation.

At our Mass yesterday morning we prayed for the new Sisters in Vilvoorde and here in the Philippines.

Sr Juliet Mantos TC, after her final profession in July 2009 in Cagayan de Oro Cathedral, with Sr Maria Elena S. Echavarren TC, Superior of the Vice-Province.

The Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family came to the Philippines in 1982 and are now part of the Vice-Province of St Clare, with its headquarters in Cebu City. The Vice-Province includes missions in South Korea and in India. There are plans to establish a community in Sri Lanka. There are now Filipino Sisters working in Korea, India and Tanzania. The Vice-Province has Sisters from China who have had their formation here, made their professions here and are working here. Their are also eight young women from Vietnam in the Philippines who are preparing to enter the aspirancy shortly. Sr Juliet Mantos, above, is the Directress of Aspirants in Bacolod City.

The newly-professed are Sisters Ronalyn C. Moreno, Megan M. Nudalo, Soseth P. Soliva, Maricel L. Fuerzas, Markris B. Bios, Myra F. Grijaldo and Maris Stella D. Magno.

The Sisters in the group photo above are wearing the normal 'working' habit. Sisters Juliet and Elena are wearing the darker habit, worn on special occasions.

You can read about Holy Family Home, Makati City, here and about Holy Family Home, Bacolod City, where I'm unofficial chaplain and where the joy of the Sisters and of the girls they take care of gives me a real taste of the joy of the Lord, here. 'The Lord takes delight in his people' (Ps 149:4).

Every month, usually on the night of the first Saturday, the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters in Bacolod hold a two-hour vigil in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed, a vigil to which the girls in Holy Family Home are invited, for vocations. As far as I know, the Sisters hold a similar vigil in their other houses.







SAINT Valentine's Day

This weekend I’ll be in Cebu city as part of a team giving a Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekend. St Valentine’s Day falls in the middle of it. Shortly after I started my blog just over a year ago I posted an item about putting the ‘saint’ back in St Valentine’s Day. Some of my WWME friends are probably sick of my reminding them that 14 February is 'SAINT Valentine's Day', not 'Valentine's Day'.

What is certain is that there is a St Valentine, martyred on 14 February either in AD 269 or 270. Though he is no longer on the universal calendar of the Church he is still honoured. There is a shrine to him in the church of the Carmelites (OCarm), Whitefriar St, Dublin, and their website tells us everything that there is to know about the saint . It also gives the texts for the Mass of St Valentine

The core of the stories about St Valentine is that this young Roman priest, what we would now call a diocesan priest, was martyred for officiating at weddings when Emperor Claudius II, ‘the Cruel’, forbade them because he was engaged in so many wars.

Here in the Philippines St Valentine’s Day is almost always referred to as ‘Valentine’s Day’. Indeed the ‘St’ is left out in most English-speaking countries. For many young people it is simply a day to express innocent friendship. For many married couples it is a day for renewing their love for one another. But for many unmarried young adults it is, quite frankly, a day for fornicating.

Marriage is more and more under attack in the west. I can think of no better patron for priests and married couples involved in strengthening marriage than St Valentine.

And I also think that the Church should put more emphasis on marriage than on the family, since the sacrament of matrimony is the foundation of the family and the vocation to be a spouse is more fundamental than the vocation to be a parent. In God’s plan, parenthood is meant to be a consequence of the two, husband and wife, becoming one.

The statue in the photo above is in the shrine of St Valentine in the Carmelite Church in my native city, Dublin.

May I wish everyone a Happy SAINT Valentine's Day!