February 13th, 2022

sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time

by Fr. Boniface Endorf, O.P.

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Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,

This Monday is St. Valentine’s Day and many people ask who he was. We don’t know a lot about the historical St. Valentine. We know that he was a priest or bishop and was martyred on February 14th, 269 AD, during a persecution of Christians by the Emperor Claudius. There are many legends concerning St. Valentine, but they are attested to only centuries after he lived. Some claim that he celebrated marriages in secret so that men could avoid military service in the Roman army, others that he miraculously restored sight to a noble’s daughter and thus converted her family. It's unclear how true these stories are, but he must have in some way shown forth holiness to his contemporaries in order for them to have considered him holy. In 469 AD Pope Gelasius I created a feast day to St. Valentine on February 14th. That feast day remained until Pope Pius XII reduced it to a commemoration, and after the liturgical reforms of Vatican II it was removed from the General Roman Calendar, although it may be celebrated on local calendars in certain dioceses. 

St. Valentine gave his life for love of God and we must be willing to follow his example. Love is what justifies and grounds all our actions: we move toward that we love the most. Whom or what we love determines who we become. Let us love God until the end and we too can follow St. Valentine in finding the glory and joy that God calls us to. 

God Bless,
Fr. Boniface