Eoin Ryan TD, heart pinned firmly to his sleeve, showed his political mettle this week by calling for Dublin to reclaim its rightful position as the world capital of love (not to be confused with our former undefeated title of world capital of stag parties), in the face of a Scottish attempt to steal our libidinous thunder.
Everyone knows the remains of St Valentine are in a casket held at Whitefriar Street Church on Aungier Street, Dublin. Most historians accept that they were passed on as a gift from Pope Gregory XVI to the respected Dublin Carmelite Father John Spratt. Since 1836, they have been kept, in the manner of one's most prized bone china ornament, in one of the church's marble altars. And anyway, the scenes between young people of the opposite sex on the night the Junior Cert results are released provide inconclusive proof that the spirit of romance strides like a colossus through the capital - well, staggers then - carrying a flagon of cider and wearing knee-high boots.
The Dublin South East TD is not best pleased with the people at the Gorbals Pastoral Centre in Glasgow who say they have St Val's remains, calling the new claim "somewhat dubious".
"Regardless of how they came to arrive in Dublin, the relics have remained here for over 160 years. Dublin should be adequately promoted as his true resting place and everyone around the world who celebrates February 14th should be made aware of this historical significance," he said.
The problem is, St Valentine is a saint with about as much historical significance as another, minor church figure, St Nicholas. Just as in the case of Valentine, St Nicholas, who was apparently a generous soul, has been hijacked by commercial concerns to sell the materialistic virtues of Christmas. Santa Claus is an icon of the holiday as much as Jesus Christ.
Similarly, St Valentine, whose story is much more romantic than any of the conventions of Hallmark Day, has emerged as the universal symbol for love.
But will the real St Valentine please stand up? According to the Catholic Encyclopaedia, at least three Saint Valentines are mentioned in the early martyrologies under the date of February 14th. One is described as a priest at Rome, another as a Bishop of Interamna (now Terni in Italy) and the other lived and died in Africa.
The Bishop of Interamna is the figure widely cited as being the real thing. In AD 270, Valentine is said to have annoyed authorities by secretly marrying Roman troops, an act banned by the slightly barmy Emperor Claudius 11 who thought single men made better soldiers.
The "friend of lovers" was summoned to the the emperor's palace where Claudius attempted to show him the error of his ways, i.e. convert him away from Christianity and towards the Roman gods. Valentine refused to renounce his beliefs and was executed on February 14th. Legend has it, however, that while languishing in jail before his execution, he fell in love with the blind daughter of the jailer and then miraculously restored her sight. Before he was beheaded he wrote her a note and signed it "from your Valentine".
His death coincided with a pagan Roman celebration, Lupercalia, on February 14th, when the names of teenage women were placed in a box and drawn at random by adolescent men. The chosen one became the boy's companion for a year until the next sexual lottery came around. Pope Gelasius is said to have ended this practice by naming February 14th St Valentine's Day in AD 498. His aim, apparently, was to promote a Christian understanding of love and marriage. The practice of spending a fortune on tacky cards the size of small houses and the texture of pillows, edible underwear and exorbitantly priced flora and fauna was to come much later. According to one reference, the customs were established in the Middle Ages when it was believed that halfway through the month of February, birds found mates for each other.
Chaucer even wrote about it in Parliament of Foules.
For this was sent on Seynt Valentine's day
When every foul cometh ther to choose his mate
The first Valentine's card is thought to have been sent in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London. It wasn't until the 16th century that cupids and hearts starting appearing on cards. The suggestive verse and the penchant of restaurateurs to treble the price of a sub-standard nosebag on Valentine's night, so in vogue at the moment, are a recent development.
Meanwhile, the controversy as to the whereabouts of Valentine's remains continues, with the Irish Catholic suggesting this week that a DNA test may solve the riddle. Journalist Cian Molloy writes that tests on St Oliver Plunkett were successfully carried out with difficulty, but the Irish martyr was killed in 1681, when St Valentine had been dead for over 1,400 years.
Father Frank O'Gara, of the Whitefriar Street Church, told the paper that the casket containing St Valentine's remains has never been opened but that there are documents of authentication and a papal seal with the casket. For his part, Father Brian McGrath, of the Gorbals Pastoral Centre in Glasgow, said a casket containing Valentine's remains had been in the possession of Scottish Franciscans since 1868.
"I now know three places that claim to hold at least some of the remains of St Valentine, here in the Gorbals, in Dublin and in Terni, Italy ... what may be worth doing is carrying out a DNA test to see if the bones at these three places are from the same man," he told The Irish Catholic.