In my post, I mention how we like to read the story of the Saint to correspond with the feast day we are celebrating. This is just a little way we try to steer clear of the commercialism that surrounds many of these special holidays - while I think there are many ways these feast days have veered far from the original intent, I feel it is worthwhile to celebrate and make these days special for our children.
As I was going online to find a story of Saint Valentine to read to my kids tomorrow, I realized there really wasn't anything I was super happy with. So, I read a few different versions and composed one that I feel embodies the story well, at an appropriate level for my young children.
The Story of Saint Valentine
Feast Day: February 14
Retold by Olivia Fischer
Saint Valentine was a priest in Rome at a time when the Emperor, whose name was Claudius, was persecuting (treating very badly) people who were Christian, people who loved and believed in Jesus.
This same Emperor also decided to make it against the law for young people to get married. He thought that the young men would be better soldiers for his army if they did not have families at home to worry about.
In the Catholic faith, though, getting married is such a beautiful thing. Saint Valentine believed that when people really loved each other, it was so important for them to be able to become husband and wife. He believed this so strongly that he began helping young people get married to each other, even though it was against the law and he knew he could get in trouble.
Eventually Emperor Claudius found out about the secret weddings Saint Valentine was allowing. He ordered that Saint Valentine be thrown in jail and even tortured as a punishment for breaking the law.
One of the things that we do on Valentine’s Day is give each other little messages or notes to show each other how much we care about each other.
This started because of something Saint Valentine did when he was in jail.
In jail, one of the men who worked for Emperor Claudius met Saint Valentine. He told Saint Valentine that he had a daughter who was blind. This made the man, whose name was Asterius, very sad. Saint Valentine had such a strong faith in Jesus that he knew Jesus could make a miracle happen for Asterius’ daughter. He asked Asterius to let him meet the man’s daughter, and then he asked for permission to pray over her.
When Saint Valentine prayed for Jesus to heal the girl, a miracle did happen! All of a sudden, she was able to see, she wasn’t blind anymore. This changed Asterius’ heart, and he began to believe in Jesus.
But Saint Valentine was still in jail, and Emperor Claudius was afraid of him. He decided to have Saint Valentine killed.
Before he died, Saint Valentine sent a letter to Asterius and his daughter, encouraging them and reminding them about Jesus’ love. He signed it “from Your Valentine” because he thought of them as such good friends.
Now, thousands of years later, we remember this story of a saint who believed in love enough to die, and was such a good friend, by giving people messages and sometimes even signing them “From Your Valentine” like he did.
Saint Valentine was put in jail and eventually killed because he stood up for marriage and love, because he believed in how beautiful it was. This is why we began thinking of him as the special Saint of love, and remember him on February 14. We celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14th because it was decided that this was a special day, a long time ago, for people to think about true love and good friendship.
How can we honour and celebrate a saint like Saint Valentine today? What are ways we can show true love and good friendship to the people around us?
Reflection: Let us pray for the gift of love, which will help us to see the best in people and choose to do what is best for others no matter how difficult it might be.
What are some ways you incorporate faith or an encouraging theme into your Valentine's Day celebrations and traditions? If you end up using this version, let me know, I would love to hear from other families that are sharing some traditions with us!
And if you would like to see more of these Saint of the day and feast day stories, please reach out and I can make it happen.
Thank you for reading! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. I would also love to hear any suggestions for posts you would like me to write about. And if you are interested in following along in our daily adventures, follow us on Instagram where I post daily.
God bless,
Olivia Fischer
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ReplyDeleteI used this as part of a young childrens Sunday School Class. The kids really enjoyed it. Thank you!
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