MysTERY of ValentiNE

Heyo people, it’s been a while. Hope Y’all are doing good. The season of love is here again and young men are scampering on the road of love seeking for their missing ribs asking the famous question “Would you be my val”. Restaurants are bursting with jamz and latest hits. Writer’s like us just dey dere spilling ink on paper. Has anyone ever wondered who this St.Valentine is? Who is this mysterious saint and where did these traditions come from? Did he really die for love as majority of people claim? ............The history of Valentine’s day and story of its patron is shrouded in mystery. The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. The most popular legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. Emperor Claudius II commonly called “Claudius the Cruel” was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that Roman men did not want to leave their loves or families, so, he cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. St.Valentine, a priest in Rome, in the year 269AD, together with his friend St. Marius defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he should be beaten to death with clubs and his head cut off. In prison, St.Valentine fell in love with his jailer’s daughter, Jaurius who visited him during confinement. On Feb. 14, Valentine was beheaded. Prior to his death, he supposedly cured the jailer’s daughter of her blindness. Erm, it seems St.Valentine died because he went against Claudius orders or did he die for love? Remember, he had already been sentenced to death before falling in love so why do people claim Valentine died for love? I don’t really understand the basis of this tradition. Why should the whole world celebrate the death of a single iconoclast who decided to wed single soldiers. Did he go against Claudius orders because he felt it was injustice or because he lived for love? In Nigeria, we have numerous people such as Nnamdi Azikwe, Ken Saro Wiwa, Dele Giwa, to mention a few who fought immensely for our emancipation for the shackles of oppression and undue corruption. These people contributed immensely to our lives. Unfortunately, no one celebrates their birth or death. My little cousin aged seven years asked me to be her val and when I asked her who Nnamdi Azikwe is , she said, “He’s daddy’s friend”! At this point, I think it is worthy of note that in 496AD, Pope Gelasius set aside Feb.14 to honour St. Valentine. He instituted Valentine’s day as a day of love to exchange gifts and presents among loved one ( this was the commom practice prevalent among Christians in those days). Please, is this what is practiced in our society today? No valentine’s day passes without hundreds of young lives terminated through abortions. Night parties are held in the name of valentine, despicable and obscene acts are carried out on every Valentine’s day. The essence of this day has been lost and St.Valentine himself would roll in his grave at this great misinterpretation. I’m sorry to say but St. Valentine’s death has lost its essence. He has died like a Christmas chicken. Along with him go thousands of unborn children and innocent souls down the path of death. Unwanted pregnancies are living witness of a Valentine day celebrated with “fun” culminating into child abuse and indiscipline in the society. The funniest part of it all is that St.Valentine followed the principles of letter-writing and signed beneath his letter to his prisoner’s daughter “From your Valentine”. It seems that on Feb.14, every young man changes his name to Valentine and inscribes on his gift to his lover “From your Valentine”. Even the greatest of sinners become a transmogrified St. Valentine. I would rather put “From your Olayanju” on my letter to my Val. Is this day to be upheld as a true practice of Christianity? N.B: I’m not anti-valentine Ooooooo. I only dared to ask the long-neglected question of centuries. My curiosity led me through the dark tunnel of the ‘mystery of Valentine’… Phillips Olayanju