THIS Friday we are celebrating another Valentine’s Day.
Few people who celebrate this day across the globe – with flowers and gifts for loved ones – will realise the Irish connection.
But at Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin this week, the saint will be remembered.
Literature on the church states that in the early 1800s, while renovation work was taking place, the remains of Valentine were discovered, along with a small vessel tinged with his blood and some other artefacts.
During a major renovation in the church in the 1950s-60s they were returned to prominence with an altar and shrine being constructed to house them and enable them to be venerated.
A statue to the saint in the city church depicts the saint in the red vestments of a martyr and holding a crocus in his hand.
The church says its shrine is visited throughout the year by couples who come to pray to St Valentine and to ask him to watch over them, while the feast day – February 14th – is a busy one at the Dublin church.
But the story of his links with romantic love are many and varied.
One story claims Roman Emperor Claudius II had banned marriage because he thought married men made bad soldiers. Valentine felt this was unfair and so he continued to arrange marriages – but in secret. When it was discovered, Valentine was imprisoned and sentenced to death.
It is said that St Valentine signed a letter ‘from your Valentine’ to his jailer’s daughter, whom he had befriended and whose blindness he had cured.
Whether this is fact or fiction, the practice of sending cards, letters and gifts to loved ones persists to this day.
February 14th has become a day of sharing love between couples the world over.
But perhaps it’s time we embraced the love on a wider scale?
Could there be any time in recent centuries when the world needed to spread the love more?
This is a time of great conflict on the planet. All over the world, war is being waged in different regions. It is not just the major conflicts in Ukraine or Gaza that are causing distress and an avoidable death toll.
All around our globe, tribes, religions and countries are at war with each other.
Thanks to the aggressive policies of some governments and their leaders, whole continents could soon be entered in a trade war across the seas. Trade wars will lead to an atmosphere that will create hate and division between cultures and citizens.
Everywhere we look, love is in short supply.
It is ironic that many of the conflicts have their genesis in religion – when the basis of practically all religions is kindness and love.
But man’s insatiable greed has resulted in many of us on this planet losing sight of the origins of our religion and our moral compass. That is especially true of those with a stranglehold on power.
But perhaps, like the WWI soldiers who negotiated the Christmas Truce in 1914, we could negotiate even just one day every year when we could let love shine, rather than hate.
Every big movement begins with one small move. Let this February 14th be a day to share kindness, gratitude, and love, not just with our partners, but also with our neighbours. And maybe from small seeds of love, can a general compassion grow.
Speed limit row rolls on
The controversy regarding reduced speed limits on various local, urban and national roads is continuing.
The first tranche of changes was rolled in last weekend, with local roads reducing from 80kph to 60kph.
But these roads are not the real concern for those who want the changes discussed.
The next set of reductions will see national roads having limits reduced from 100kph to 80kph. The national roads are roads whose numbers being with an N prefix, including the main artery into West Cork from the city – the N71.
Some drivers believe that the reduced limits will cause frustration – especially for commuters – and may even cause many to divert onto lesser roads, making them busier and therefore more dangerous.
But all of these fears should surely have been expressed when the changes were first mooted, since the new laws regulating the revised limits were introduced almost a year ago – last April.
Is this yet another case of attempting to close the stable door after the horsepower has bolted?
