especially on this day of affection and devotion.
+Valentine Icon by the hand of Nicholas Pappas
A legend is like a box of chocolates ---
How did you do those special characters in the header?
St. Valentine, pray for us.
Thank you. This is beautiful.
Thanks for the post.
The baptism of St. Lucilla by St. Valentine, by Bassano
A great Saint. A great day.
A happy and blessed Saint Valentines Day to all
The following is the article from the Catholic Encyclopedia:
St. Valentine
Catholic Encyclopedia At least three different Saint Valentines, all of them martyrs, are mentioned in the early martyrologies under date of 14 February. One is described as a priest at Rome, another as bishop of Interamna (modern Terni), and these two seem both to have suffered in the second half of the third century and to have been buried on the Flaminian Way, but at different distances from the city. In William of Malmesbury's time what was known to the ancients as the Flaminian Gate of Rome and is now the Porta del Popolo, was called the Gate of St. Valentine. The name seems to have been taken from a small church dedicated to the saint which was in the immediate neighborhood. Of both these St. Valentines some sort of Acta are preserved but they are of relatively late date and of no historical value. Of the third Saint Valentine, who suffered in Africa with a number of companions, nothing further is known.
Saint Valentine's Day
The popular customs associated with Saint Valentine's Day undoubtedly had their origin in a conventional belief generally received in England and France during the Middle Ages, that on 14 February, i.e. half way through the second month of the year, the birds began to pair. Thus in Chaucer's Parliament of Foules we read:
For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne's day
Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.
For this reason the day was looked upon as specially consecrated to lovers and as a proper occasion for writing love letters and sending lovers' tokens. Both the French and English literatures of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries contain allusions to the practice. Perhaps the earliest to be found is in the 34th and 35th Ballades of the bilingual poet, John Gower, written in French; but Lydgate and Clauvowe supply other examples. Those who chose each other under these circumstances seem to have been called by each other their Valentines. In the Paston Letters, Dame Elizabeth Brews writes thus about a match she hopes to make for her daughter (we modernize the spelling), addressing the favoured suitor:
And, cousin mine, upon Monday is Saint Valentine's Day and every bird chooses himself a mate, and if it like you to come on Thursday night, and make provision that you may abide till then, I trust to God that ye shall speak to my husband and I shall pray that we may bring the matter to a conclusion.
Shortly after the young lady herself wrote a letter to the same man addressing it
"Unto my rightwell beloved Valentine, John Paston Esquire".
The custom of choosing and sending valentines has of late years fallen into comparative desuetude.
Lovers' holiday originates from wise, caring Italian bishop
The Life of St. Valentine, [The Golden Legend]
Thank you for posting this.
The Hebrew sages say, “All that was, is and will be is in the Torah.”
They are correct. So what about Valentines Day?
To paraphrase ‘Big’ Absolutely!
Cause and Effect
Every week in the synagogue a different section (called Portion) of the Torah and Prophets is read, dependant on the Hebrew (lunar) calendar.
This week is a special Sabbath, Shabbat Shekalim and an extra section of the Torah is read.
Exodus 30: 11-16
11 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 12 “When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them. 13 This is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel is twenty gerahs). The half-shekel shall be an offering to the LORD. 14 Everyone included among those who are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the LORD. 15 The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when you give an offering to the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves. 16 And you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves.”
***
Notice in this section the shekel is linked to the soul and what’s more the numerical equivalent (gematria) of shekel like that of nefesh, soul is 430.
Now if shekel and soul have the same value, why give a ‘half’? wouldn’t you give a whole shekel?
Whether you’ve noticed it or not, you’ve just caught a glimpse into the source code of the soul.
Back to the beginning…
Genesis 1
27 So ELoHIM created Adam in His own image; in the image of ELoHIM created him; male and female He created them.
Souls were created in Genesis 1, the physical form of Adam isn’t until chapter 2.
And the Sefer Zohar (Book of Splendor) goes on at length on the subject of soulmates. Genesis 1:26-27 tells the story. Souls were created as a sphere, and we’re split up when we are born into this world. And that’s the answer to the question ‘Life the universe and everything’, why we are here.
Cause and Effect
This week the story of the ‘half shekel’ and the ‘soul’ will be read in the synagogue and it effects the entire creation, awakening us to seek the one we were separated from.
Speaking of half, Valentines Day is celebrated on the 14th of February and there are 28 days in this month!
Perfect
Absolutely Perfect!
Happy Valentines Day!
I thought Claudius reigned from 41 to 54 AD and, according to Gibbon and other classical historians, was an enlightened emperor. What Claudius are you referring to?