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Valentine’s Day will soon be upon us and Ireland has a

special reason to celebrate.

We are one of the places in the world said to house some of

the remains of the patron saint

of lovers.

His bones are kept in a shrine in the Carmelite Church of Whitefriars in Dublin’s Aungier Street.

And although we love to send flowers and cards adorned with hearts and propose on the big

day, the real story of the saint is a rather more gory one.

St Valentine was a Roman priest at the time when the Emperor

Claudius II ruled and he persecuted the church.

He also forbade young people to marry as he felt unmarried soldiers were better fighters as those with wives and families were worried about what would happen their dependents if they died.

St Valentine performed marriage ceremonies in secret but was even imprisoned for his actions.

He was beaten with clubs and beheaded on February 14 either

in 269AD or 270AD – no one is 100% sure.

There’s more than one St Valentine

There are a number of saints with the name – maybe as many as 12 as Valentinus was a popular Roman boy’s name.

So the one whose day we celebrate is known as St Valentine of Rome.

The most recently beatified is St Valentin Berrio-Ochoa, a Spaniard of the Dominican order who travelled to Vietnam where

he served as bishop until his beheading in 1861.

Pope John Paul II canonized Berrio-Ochoa in 1988.

There was even a Pope Valentine who served 40 days around 827.

He’s not just all about love

(Image: Reuters)

He might be the patron saint of happy couples but Valentine also has beekeepers and epilepsy under his responsibilities.

People call on him to keep their heart safe with the one they love but also pray for beekeeping and epilepsy-related intentions.

You can also pray to him if you are bothered by the plague, fainting and travelling.

Ireland only has a bit of St Valentine

The skull of St Valentine is on display in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome.

There are other relics around the world thanks to the excavation of a catacomb near the Italian capital in the early 1800s.

They came here because in 1835 an Irish Carmelite by the name of John Spratt was visiting Rome. He was a preacher who worked with the poor in The Liberties and also built the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at Whitefriar Street.

While he was in Rome he was asked to preach at the famous Jesuit Church in the city, the

Gesu.

Pope Gregory XVI (1831-1846) was so impressed he gave him some of the remains of St Valentine.

On November 10, 1836, the Reliquary containing the remains arrived in Dublin and were processed to Whitefriar Street Church where they remain to this day in a special shrine.

Couples flock to the shrine on Valentine’s Day

The shrine is visited all year round by couples who come to ask St Valentine to bless their lives together. The feast day of the saint on February 14 is a very popular one and many couples come to Mass where that day there is also a Blessing Of The Rings ceremony at 11am and 3.15pm.

Miracles

(Image: Collins)

Visitors to the shrine will notice St Valentine’s statue holds

a crocus. One of his miracles was said to be that he restored sight to a blind girl.

This comes from when he was imprisoned, a jailer for the Emperor of Rome knocked at Valentine’s door asking him to cure his daughter who had been blind since birth. He gave the jailer ointment for the little girl and agreed to give her lessons as well.

On the night before his death he wrote the girl a letter which

said, “From Your Valentine.”

The little girl opened the note and discovered a yellow crocus inside which she saw in glorious technicolour for the first time.

Are you doing something romantic for Valetine's Day? Let us know in our comments section below