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69-425: Alexandre (Vincent Perez) feels disillusioned with his fiancée, Laure (Marine Delterme), whose idea of romance is a pair of slippers for Valentine's Day . Their once passionate relationship has settled into monotony. To clear his mind, Alexandre visits the beach cottage of his friends Ti (Gérard Séty) and Maude (Micheline Presle), where he meets Fanfan (Sophie Marceau), Maude's granddaughter, a student studying to become

138-415: A perfumer . Though they sleep in the same bed that night, Alexandre avoids any physical contact. As the days pass, Alexandre and Fanfan grow closer. Fanfan takes him to an abandoned house where they share intimate conversations. Back at his apartment, Laure tries to reignite their relationship by dressing as an Italian call girl , but the attempt falls flat. Laure's father's gloomy talk of Alexandre joining

207-855: A 16th-century English historian, and the Order of Carmelites state that Saint Valentine was buried in the Church of Saint Praxedes in Rome, located near the cemetery of Saint Hippolytus . This order says that according to legend, "Julia herself planted a pink-blossomed almond tree near his grave. Today, the almond tree remains a symbol of abiding love and friendship." Another embellishment suggests that Saint Valentine performed clandestine Christian weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry. The Roman Emperor Claudius II supposedly forbade this in order to grow his army, believing that married men did not make for good soldiers. However, George Monger writes that this marriage ban

276-454: A bus to Italy but doesn’t chase after her. Ti warns him that Fanfan won’t wait forever. Determined, Alexandre rents the apartment next to hers and installs a two-way mirror to secretly watch her. Back from Italy, Fanfan surprises Alexandre by bringing Paul along on a weekend trip, making him jealous. Alexandre admits that Laure's pregnancy was a lie, but Fanfan says it’s too late. She pretends to be marrying Paul to provoke Alexandre. He discovers

345-483: A character called "Jack" Valentine knocks on the rear door of houses, leaving sweets and presents for children. Although he was leaving treats, many children were scared of this mystical person. In Slovenia , Saint Valentine or Zdravko was one of the saints of spring, the saint of good health and the patron of beekeepers and pilgrims. A proverb says that "Saint Valentine brings the keys of roots". Plants and flowers start to grow on this day. It has been celebrated as

414-544: A different origin. The first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love is believed to be in the Parliament of Fowls (1382) by Geoffrey Chaucer , a dream vision portraying a parliament for birds to choose their mates. Honouring the first anniversary of the engagement of fifteen-year-old King Richard II of England to fifteen-year-old Anne of Bohemia , Chaucer wrote (in Middle English ): " For this

483-424: A noise they began to make That earth and air and tree and every lake Was so full, that not easily was there space For me to stand—so full was all the place." Readers have uncritically assumed that Chaucer was referring to February 14 as Valentine's Day. Henry Ansgar Kelly has observed that Chaucer might have had in mind the feast day of St. Valentine of Genoa, an early bishop of Genoa who died around AD 307; it

552-488: A purple amethyst ring, customarily worn on the hands of Christian bishops with an image of Cupid engraved in it, a recognizable symbol associated with love that was legal under the Roman Empire; Roman soldiers would recognize the ring and ask him to perform marriage for them. Probably due to the association with Saint Valentine, amethyst has become the birthstone of February, which is thought to attract love. While

621-763: A romantic evening, but when the owner of the apartment they’re using returns, they narrowly escape. Alexandre then creates a magical experience for Fanfan at a television studio, dancing with her in an 1813 Vienna set. However, when he toasts to their "friendship," Fanfan is disappointed and leaves to meet her friend Paul, a sculptor doing a nude study of her. At home, Laure suspects Alexandre of seeing someone else. He admits it, but insists nothing will come of it. Laure begins planning their wedding, but Alexandre envisions them turning into her parents. Meanwhile, Fanfan, frustrated with Alexandre’s behavior, confronts him. She gives him an ultimatum: choose between her and Laure. Though Alexandre claims to want only friendship, Fanfan knows he

690-672: A romantic symbol and an invitation to unlock the giver's heart", as well as to children to ward off epilepsy (called Saint Valentine's Malady). Saint Valentine's Day is not a public holiday in any country, although it is an official feast day in the Anglican Communion and the Lutheran Church. Many parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church also celebrate Saint Valentine's Day on July 6 in honor of Roman presbyter Saint Valentine, and on July 30 in honor of Hieromartyr Valentine,

759-588: A thing. Also, the dates do not fit because at the time of Gelasius I, the feast was only celebrated in Jerusalem, and it was on February 14 only because Jerusalem placed the Nativity of Jesus (Christmas) on January 6. Although it was called "Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary", it also dealt with the presentation of Jesus at the temple. Jerusalem's Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary on February 14 became

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828-506: A very human and personalised yet often localized way of organizing the year and identifying dates. Some Christians continue the tradition of dating by saints' days: their works may appear "dated" as "The Feast of Saint Martin ". As different Christian jurisdictions parted ways theologically, differing lists of saints began to develop. This happened because the same individual may be considered differently by one church; in extreme examples, one church's saint may be another church's heretic, as in

897-617: Is All the Ayre is thy Diocese And all the chirping Queristers And other birds ar thy parishioners Thou marryest every yeare The Lyrick Lark, and the graue whispering Doue, The Sparrow that neglects his life for loue, The houshold bird with the redd stomacher Thou makst the Blackbird speede as soone, As doth the Goldfinch, or the Halcyon The Husband Cock lookes out and soone

966-519: Is Saint Valentine's day, All in the morning betime, And I a maid at your window, To be your Valentine. Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes, And dupp'd the chamber-door; Let in the maid, that out a maid Never departed more." John Donne used the legend of the marriage of the birds as the starting point for his epithalamion celebrating the marriage of Elizabeth , daughter of James I of England , and Frederick V, Elector Palatine , on Valentine's Day: "Hayle Bishop Valentine whose day this

1035-403: Is attracted to her. One evening, Alexandre secretly adds sleeping powder to Fanfan's drink, and while she sleeps, he sensually applies sunscreen on her back. Just as he is about to kiss her, Laure arrives, announcing she is pregnant and the wedding plans are set. Disgusted, Fanfan leaves. Later, Alexandre discovers that Laure lied about being pregnant, and they break up. He spots Fanfan boarding

1104-520: Is devastated when he learns from Maude that Fanfan’s sister is dead, implying Fanfan may be contemplating suicide. Just then, the mirror between them cracks, and Fanfan breaks through the barrier. They kiss, and Fanfan gives Alexandre until morning to win her back. The film topped the box office on its opening weekend in France, playing at 204 screens and selling 188,577 admissions. In its opening week it grossed 6,341,843 French franc ($ 1.1 million). In total

1173-573: Is not possible to ascertain which of the four may have influenced the others. The earliest description of February 14 as an annual celebration of love appears in the Charter of the Court of Love . The charter, allegedly issued by Charles VI of France at Mantes-la-Jolie in 1400, describes lavish festivities to be attended by several members of the royal court, including a feast, amorous song and poetry competitions, jousting and dancing. Amid these festivities,

1242-681: Is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian in 273. He is buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location from Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni ( Basilica di San Valentino ). Professor Jack B. Oruch of the University of Kansas notes that "abstracts of the acts of the two saints were in nearly every church and monastery of Europe." A relic claimed to be Saint Valentine of Terni's head

1311-400: Is spedd And meets his wife, which brings her feather-bed. This day more cheerfully than ever shine This day which might inflame thy selfe old Valentine." The verse " Roses are red " echoes conventions traceable as far back as Edmund Spenser 's epic The Faerie Queene (1590): "She bath'd with roses red, and violets blew, And all the sweetest flowres [ sic ], that in

1380-568: Is still celebrated in Balzan ( Malta ), where relics of the saint are claimed to be found, and also throughout the world by Traditionalist Catholics who follow the older, pre- Second Vatican Council calendar (see General Roman Calendar of 1960 ). In the Eastern Orthodox Church , Saint Valentine is recognized on July 6 , on which Saint Valentine , the Roman presbyter, is honoured; in addition,

1449-399: The 1899 San Ciriaco hurricane (the deadliest in the island's recorded history; Saint Cyriacus , August 8), the 1928 San Felipe hurricane (the strongest in terms of measured wind speed; Saint Philip , father of Saint Eugenia of Rome , September 13), and the 1932 San Ciprian hurricane ( Saint Cyprian , September 26). This practice continued until quite some time after

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1518-575: The Anglican Communion , there are Principal Feasts and Principal Holy Days , Festivals , Lesser Festivals , and Commemorations . Before the advent of standardized naming of tropical storms and hurricanes in the North Atlantic basin , tropical storms and hurricanes that affected the island of Puerto Rico were informally named after the Catholic saints corresponding to the feast days when

1587-500: The Canon of Matins ). There are also distinctions between Simple feasts and double (i.e., two simple feasts celebrated together). In Double Feasts, the order of hymns and readings for each feast are rigidly instructed in Typikon , the liturgy book. The Lutheran Churches celebrate Festivals, Lesser Festivals, Days of Devotion, and Commemorations. In the Church of England , mother Church of

1656-697: The Church and Catacombs of San Valentino in Rome, which "remained an important pilgrim site throughout the Middle Ages until the relics of Saint Valentine were transferred to the church of Santa Prassede during the pontificate of Nicholas IV [1288–1292]". The flower-crowned skull of Saint Valentine is exhibited in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin , Rome. Other relics are found at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland. Valentine of Terni became bishop of Interamna (now Terni , in central Italy) and

1725-501: The Feast of Saint Valentine , is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine , and through later folk traditions it has also become a significant cultural, religious and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world. There are a number of martyrdom stories associated with various Saint Valentines connected to February 14, including an account of

1794-657: The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple on February 2 as it was introduced to Rome and other places in the sixth century, after Gelasius I's time. Alban Butler in his The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints (1756–1759) claimed without proof that boys and girls in Lupercalia drew names from a jar to make couples, and that modern Valentine's letters originated from this custom. In reality, this practice originated in

1863-800: The United States Weather Bureau (now called the National Weather Service) started publishing and using official female human names (initially; male names were added starting in 1979 after the NWS relinquished control over naming to the World Meteorological Organization ). The last two usages of this informal naming scheme in Puerto Rico were in 1956 ( Hurricane Betsy , locally nicknamed Santa Clara after Saint Clare of Assisi , feast day August 12 back then; her feast day

1932-770: The motu proprio Summorum Pontificum , divides liturgical days into I, II, III, and IV class days. Those who use even earlier forms of the Roman Rite rank feast days as doubles (of three or four kinds), Semidoubles, and Simples. See Ranking of liturgical days in the Roman Rite . In the Eastern Orthodox Church the ranking of feasts varies from church to church. In the Russian Orthodox Church they are: Great Feasts , middle, and minor feasts. Each portion of such feasts may also be called feasts as follows: All-night vigils , Polyeleos , Great Doxology , Sextuple ("sixfold", having six stichera at Vespers and six troparia at

2001-488: The " lovebirds " of early spring. In 18th-century England, it grew into an occasion for couples to express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). Valentine's Day symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid . In the 19th century, handmade cards gave way to mass-produced greetings. In Italy, Saint Valentine's keys are given to lovers "as

2070-649: The 14th century, some seven hundred years after celebration of Lupercalia is believed to have ceased. Lupercalia was a festival local to the city of Rome. The more general Festival of Juno Februa , meaning "Juno the purifier" or "the chaste Juno", was celebrated on February 13–14. Although the Pope Gelasius I (492–496) article in the Catholic Encyclopedia says that he abolished Lupercalia, theologian and Methodist minister Bruce Forbes wrote that "no evidence" has been demonstrated to link Saint Valentine's Day and

2139-475: The 1969 reform of the Catholic calendar moved him to 28 January, they were moved back to 7 March (see General Roman Calendar ). Both days can thus be said to be their feast day, in different traditions. The General Roman Calendar , which list those saints celebrated in the entire church, contains only a selection of the saints for each of its days. A fuller list is found in the Roman Martyrology , and some of

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2208-505: The 5th or 6th century, a work called Passio Marii et Marthae published a story of martyrdom for Saint Valentine of Rome, perhaps by borrowing tortures that happened to other saints, as was usual in the literature of that period. The same events are found in Bede's Martyrology , which was compiled in the 8th century. It states that Saint Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person. Claudius

2277-451: The 8th-century Gelasian Sacramentary . In Ancient Rome , Lupercalia was observed February 13–15 on behalf of Pan and Juno , pagan gods of love, marriage and fertility. It was a rite connected to purification and health, and had only slight connection to fertility (as a part of health) and none to love. The celebration of Saint Valentine is not known to have had any romantic connotations until Chaucer 's poetry about "Valentine's Day" in

2346-509: The Bishop of Interamna (modern Terni ). Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine . The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome ( Valentinus presb. m. Romae ) and Valentine of Terni ( Valentinus ep. Interamnensis m. Romae ). Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was martyred in 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia . The relics of Saint Valentine were kept in

2415-543: The Blessed Virgin Mary, Martyrs (with special formulas for missionary martyrs and virgin martyrs), pastors (subdivided into bishops, generic pastors, founders of churches, and missionaries), Doctors of the Church, Virgins, and (generic) Saints (with special formulas for abbots, monks, nuns, religious, those noted for works of mercy, educators, and [generically] women saints). This calendar system, when combined with major church festivals and movable and immovable feasts, constructs

2484-456: The Church, Confessors who were not Bishops, Abbots, Virgins, Non-Virgins, Dedication of Churches, and Feast Days of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pope Pius XII added a common formula for Popes. The 1962 Roman Missal of Pope John XXIII omitted the common of Apostles, assigning a proper Mass to every feast day of an Apostle. The present Roman Missal has common formulas for the Dedication of Churches,

2553-465: The Eastern Orthodox Church observes the feast of Hieromartyr Valentine, Bishop of Interamna, on July 30 . J.C. Cooper, in The Dictionary of Christianity , writes that Saint Valentine was "a priest of Rome who was imprisoned for succouring persecuted Christians." Contemporary records of Saint Valentine were most probably destroyed during this Diocletianic Persecution in the early 4th century. In

2622-569: The European folk traditions connected with Saint Valentine and Saint Valentine's Day have become marginalized by modern customs connecting the day with romantic love , there are still some connections with the advent of spring . While the custom of sending cards, flowers, chocolates and other gifts originated in the UK , Valentine's Day still remains connected with various regional customs in England. In Norfolk ,

2691-438: The Middle Ages, with no link to Lupercalia, with boys drawing the names of girls at random to couple with them. This custom was combated by priests, for example by Frances de Sales around 1600, apparently by replacing it with a religious custom of girls drawing the names of apostles from the altar . However, this religious custom is recorded as early as the 13th century in the life of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary , so it could have

2760-469: The Roman Lupercalia has been accepted uncritically and repeated, in various forms, up to the present". Three other authors who made poems about birds mating on St. Valentine's Day around the same years: Otton de Grandson from Savoy, John Gower from England, and a knight called Pardo from Valencia. Chaucer most probably predated all of them; but due to the difficulty of dating medieval works, it

2829-487: The Roman emperor; an 18th-century embellishment to the legend claims he wrote the jailer's daughter a letter signed "Your Valentine" as a farewell before his execution. The 8th-century Gelasian Sacramentary recorded the celebration of the Feast of Saint Valentine on February 14. The day became associated with romantic love in the 14th and 15th centuries, when notions of courtly love flourished, apparently by association with

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2898-476: The attending ladies would hear and rule on disputes from lovers. No other record of the court exists, and none of those named in the charter were present at Mantes except Charles's queen, Isabeau of Bavaria , who may well have imagined it all while waiting out a plague. The earliest surviving valentine is a 15th-century rondeau written by Charles, Duke of Orléans to his wife, which commences. " Je suis desja d'amour tanné Ma tres doulce Valentinée... " At

2967-549: The cases of Nestorius , Pope Dioscorus I of Alexandria , or Archbishop Flavian of Constantinople . In the Catholic Church feast days are ranked in accordance with their importance. In the post- Vatican II form of the Roman Rite , feast days are ranked (in descending order of importance) as solemnities , feasts or memorials (obligatory or optional). Pope John XXIII 's 1960 Code of Rubrics , whose use remains authorized by

3036-546: The cyclones either made landfall or started to seriously affect the island. Examples are: the 1780 San Calixto hurricane (more widely known as the Great Hurricane of 1780 , the deadliest in the North Atlantic basin's recorded history ; named after Pope Callixtus I (Saint Callixtus), whose feast day is October 14), the 1867 San Narciso hurricane (named after Saint Narcissus of Jerusalem , feast day October 29),

3105-553: The date now called February 23, a time when some birds have started mating and nesting in England. Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls refers to a supposedly established tradition, but there is no record of such a tradition before Chaucer. The speculative derivation of sentimental customs from the distant past began with 18th-century antiquaries , notably Alban Butler , the author of Butler's Lives of Saints , and have been perpetuated even by respectable modern scholars. Most notably, "the idea that Valentine's Day customs perpetuated those of

3174-455: The day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does not mean "a large meal, typically a celebratory one", but instead "an annual religious celebration, a day dedicated to a particular saint". The system rose from a Celtic festival of commemorating each martyr annually on the date of their death, their birth into heaven, a date therefore referred to in Latin as

3243-421: The day when the first work in the vineyards and in the fields commences. It is also said that birds propose to each other or marry on that day. Another proverb says "Valentin – prvi spomladin" ('Valentine – the first spring saint'), as in some places (especially White Carniola ), Saint Valentine marks the beginning of spring. Valentine's Day has only recently been celebrated as the day of love. The day of love

3312-550: The film also contains some moments of artistic brilliance, notably the Cocteau-esque sequence in which the two lovers attempt to make contact through a mirrored partition. Although there are a few unexplained gaps in the narrative—some more back story about Alexandre might have helped—writer-director Alexandre Jardin succeeds in weaving a tender love story that is both original and hauntingly poetic. Valentine%27s Day Valentine's Day , also called Saint Valentine's Day or

3381-590: The film sold 1,020,679 tickets after its run in French theaters. Fanfan received mixed reviews. In his review in Films de France , James Travers found the first half of the film "unconvincing and painfully superficial in places," but thought the film improved significantly in the second half: Compelling performances from Vincent Perez and Sophie Marceau transform what looks at first like a routine romantic comedy into something far richer, far more compassionate. The second part of

3450-400: The following reason: "Though the memorial of Saint Valentine is ancient, it is left to particular calendars, since, apart from his name, nothing is known of Saint Valentine except that he was buried on the Via Flaminia on February 14." Therefore, as he remains within the Roman Martyrology , he may be recognised optionally during mass outside of Christmastide and Eastertide . The feast day

3519-521: The forrest grew." The modern cliché Valentine's Day poem can be found in Gammer Gurton's Garland (1784), a collection of English nursery rhymes published in London by Joseph Johnson : "The rose is red, the violet's blue, Feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to

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3588-615: The funeral business and the bleak future of marriage discourages him further. Fanfan confesses to a friend that she's in love with Alexandre, but for him, things are more complex. He confides in Ti that all his relationships lose their magic once sex is involved. He proposes a solution: Platonic love . To preserve the excitement of unfulfilled desire, Alexandre vows to court Fanfan forever without revealing his feelings or engaging physically. He decides to stay with Laure physically while remaining emotionally connected to Fanfan. Alexandre and Fanfan share

3657-435: The imprisonment of Saint Valentine of Rome for ministering to Christians persecuted under the Roman Empire in the third century. According to an early tradition, Saint Valentine restored sight to the blind daughter of his jailer. Numerous later additions to the legend have better related it to the theme of love: tradition maintains that Saint Valentine performed weddings for Christian soldiers who were forbidden to marry by

3726-545: The legend, adding that Pope Julius I built a church over his sepulchre (it is a confusion with a 4th-century tribune called Valentino, who donated land to build a church at a time when Julius was a Pope). The legend was picked up as fact by later martyrologies, starting with Bede 's martyrology in the 8th century. It was repeated in the 13th century, in The Golden Legend . There is an additional embellishment to The Golden Legend , which according to Henry Ansgar Kelly,

3795-458: The martyr's dies natalis ('day of birth'). In the Eastern Orthodox Church , a calendar of saints is called a Menologion . "Menologion" may also mean a set of icons on which saints are depicted in the order of the dates of their feasts, often made in two panels. As the number of recognized saints increased during Late Antiquity and the first half of the Middle Ages , eventually every day of

3864-586: The rank of "commemoration" in the calendar of saints in the Anglican Communion . The feast day of Saint Valentine is given in the calendar of saints of the Lutheran Church . In the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints , the feast day of Saint Valentine on February 14 was relegated from the General Roman Calendar to particular (local or even national) calendars for

3933-456: The rites of the ancient Roman purification festival of Lupercalia , despite claims by many authors to the contrary. Some researchers have theorized that Gelasius I replaced Lupercalia with the celebration of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and claim a connection to the 14th century's connotations of romantic love, but there is no historical indication that he ever intended such

4002-428: The saints there may be celebrated locally. The earliest feast days of saints were those of martyrs, venerated as having shown for Christ the greatest form of love, in accordance with the teaching: "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." Saint Martin of Tours is said to be the first or at least one of the first non-martyrs to be venerated as a saint. The title " confessor "

4071-690: The time, the duke was being held in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt , 1415. The earliest surviving valentines in English appear to be those in the Paston Letters , written in 1477 by Margery Brewes to her future husband John Paston "my right well-beloved Valentine". Valentine's Day is mentioned ruefully by Ophelia in William Shakespeare 's Hamlet (1600–1601): "To-morrow

4140-414: The truth through the two-way mirror—Fanfan is still in love with him. Fanfan confronts Alexandre, and he confesses that he didn’t chase the bus because he knew their relationship would eventually lose its spark. Fanfan gives him one last chance, telling him to come to her room by 10:00 pm or lose her forever. When he doesn't show up, she moves out, leaving a note that she’s going to see her sister. Alexandre

4209-493: The year had at least one saint who was commemorated on that date. To deal with this increase, some saints were moved to alternate days in some traditions or completely removed, with the result that some saints have different feast days in different calendars. For example, saints Perpetua and Felicity died on 7 March, but this date was later assigned to St. Thomas Aquinas , allowing them only a commemoration (see Tridentine calendar ), so in 1908 they were moved one day earlier. When

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4278-465: Was added in the 18th century and widely repeated. On the evening before Valentine was to be executed , he is supposed to have written the first "valentine" card himself, addressed to the daughter of his jailer Asterius, who was no longer blind, signing as "Your Valentine." The expression "From your Valentine" was later adopted by modern Valentine letters. This legend has been published by both American Greetings and The History Channel . John Foxe ,

4347-584: Was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing Julia, the blind daughter of his jailer Asterius. The jailer's daughter and his forty-six member household , family members and servants, came to believe in Jesus and were baptized . A later Passio repeated

4416-494: Was never issued and that Claudius II told his soldiers to take two or three women for themselves after his victory over the Goths . According to legend, in order "to remind these men of their vows and God's love, Saint Valentine is said to have cut hearts from parchment", giving them to these soldiers and persecuted Christians , a possible origin of the widespread use of hearts on Saint Valentine's Day. Saint Valentine supposedly wore

4485-461: Was on seynt Valentynes day Whan every foul cometh there to chese his make Of every kynde that men thynke may And that so huge a noyse gan they make That erthe, and eyr, and tre, and every lake So ful was, that unethe was there space For me to stonde, so ful was al the place. " In modern English: "For this was on Saint Valentine's Day When every bird comes there to choose his match Of every kind that men may think of And that so huge

4554-468: Was preserved in the abbey of New Minster, Winchester , and venerated. The Catholic Encyclopedia speaks of a third saint named Valentine who was mentioned in early martyrologies under date of February 14. He was martyred in Africa with a number of companions, but nothing more is known about him. February 14 is celebrated as Saint Valentine's Day in various Christian denominations ; it has, for example,

4623-542: Was probably celebrated on May 3. A treaty providing for Richard II and Anne's marriage, the subject of the poem, was signed on May 2, 1381. Jack B. Oruch notes that the date on which spring begins has changed since Chaucer's time because of the precession of the equinoxes and the introduction of the more accurate Gregorian calendar only in 1582. On the Julian calendar in use in Chaucer's time, February 14 would have fallen on

4692-593: Was traditionally March 12, Saint Gregory 's day, or February 22, Saint Vincent's Day . The patron of love was Saint Anthony , whose day has been celebrated on June 13. The "Feast" ( Latin : in natali , lit.   ' on the birthday ' ) of Saint Valentine originated in Christendom and has been marked by the Western Church of Christendom in honour of one of the Christian martyrs named Valentine, as recorded in

4761-574: Was used for such saints, who had confessed their faith in Christ by their lives rather than by their deaths. Martyrs are regarded as dying in the service of the Lord, and confessors are people who died natural deaths. A broader range of titles was used later, such as: Virgin , Pastor , Bishop , Monk , Priest , Founder, Abbot , Apostle, Doctor of the Church . The Tridentine Missal has common formulæ for Masses of Martyrs, Confessors who were bishops, Doctors of

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