Saint Valentine 

Because we decided to launch our website on the weekend of February 14, 2009, I decided to do a little research on Saint Valentine to commemorate the sacred event.  What I found was a varied mixture of mythologies and some fact, which resulted in the day we call Valentine’s Day.  Here is what I found through a brief search and my own reflections of it thereafter.

Saint Valentine refers to several martyred saints who apparently lived around 200 AD.  The first representation of Saint Valentine appeared in the Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493.  He was known as a priest who was caught secretly marrying Christian couples.  When he wouldn’t convert to the pagan Roman religion of the time, he was executed.  Before his death, he performed a miracle healing of the jailer’s daughter and in a note he left for her, he signed it,  “  Your Valentine”.

The Saint Valentine who is celebrated on February 14 remains in the Catholic Church’s official list of saints called the Roman Martyrology.  Through the ages, this celebration has evolved into a special day where people send cards, flowers and gifts to those they love and care for.  There is also a theory that this story is actually a cover-up for commemorating a Greco-Roman pagan festival called Lupercalia.  This holiday was devoted to love and fertility.

This story is full of love, cover-up, standing up for what you believe in, martyrdom, healing and celebration.  What is coming up for me is that this is actually a story about the fullness of life, the dark and the light , the love and the fear that we all experience. 

As I reflect MORE about this, what the story about St. Valentine represents for us as Soul-Gatherers is that we want a forum for all of this and more.  St. Valentine has a lesson for us as we forge forward with our project.  We are not certain all who read our website will be in agreement.  In fact, we are anticipating the possibility that some readers will absolutely disagree and even protest this in some way to us, or about us.  Like St. Valentine, we are prepared to stand up for what we believe is our truth and in so doing encourage others to do the same.

The healing story connects with our desire to actually help heal people who read our material.  Maybe there will be something we write that brings some light for you.  Maybe it will be a book we recommend or a link that we have on our site.  The possibilities are exciting.

Finally, the most important connection of all is the love we feel as we create this project together.  Not only fopr each other, but  for all the people who have supported us throughout this process and who continue to encourage us. We want our site to be a place of Love, a place where you will come to find Love.

So thank you St. Valentine.  I had no idea that we were so connected and yet I should have known...we are ALL connected in every life and in every way.