An Interview with St. Valentine
By -VELAGALETI SANDEEP
Hi everyone this is Vicky here, welcome to my column that helps us to learn,something about the life of famous personalities from our past.
Today we are here with a special guest. His name causes the youth of the world go into dreams of their special one, but that special one is not someone that he/she doesn’t have any blood relationship with. Do you think he/she is a friend? No, he is not. Then who is it? Is that your question? It is your lovable lover. See the word itself give you a smile on your face.
Ok then, what would be the famous natural tagline at the end of any love letter? Is that “FROM YOUR VALTENTINE”? Yes it is. And now today our guest is none other than St. Valentine from the 3rd century. Now let’s learn more about him from his own words.
Hi sir, our readers would like to learn about yourlife and the reason you hold love in such a high regard. So firstly, I would liketo request you to tell our readers something about yourself.
Oh yea, hi every one, basically I was from lower middle class family. I used to work at a church as a marriage priest in the great Roman Empire. I enjoyed conducting marriages at our church. The smile that was given by the bride and the bridegroom while they were getting married made me so happy. My entire world revolved around the church and my home.
I think those times the nationwasruled by an emperor, right?
Yes you are right. Our emperor was “Claudius II”. He was a power hungry man. He had the greed of obtaining power by conquering other nations. This greediness for power turned my life upside down. He waged many wars on the neighboring countries and was in need of military men. So he ordered his people to join military.
What! Is that not cruel? It’s against democracy right?
You don’t know the completely about his cruelty. And you are using a word democracy. It’s was not possible in those days. Those were the days of monarchy man.
Ok, you said that ordering the people to join the military is not the end of his cruelty. What else he had done to the people?
The people who joined the military were not interested in it rather they were interested in their family life. Many of the warriors used to escape wars to save their lives for the sake of family. This caused him to become very cruel to his military men. Hethought of it and finally came up with a new rule stating that the youth has to serve him in military and the marriage is banned and conducting marriage is prohibited.
Ok sir, you said that your life turned upside down because of his greediness over power. Did you fight with the emperor against the new law?
Do you think that I am movie hero? Going publicly against the emperor, would led to the execution of my entire family. Iused to conductsecret marriages at the church. I even enjoyed those new experiences.
Enjoyed! How was it illegal? And you had conducted them in such tense situation. How could you enjoy it?
We were in a tense position but I enjoyed it. The room was dark with only 2 to 3 candles lit in the entire room. The prayers for the new couple were murmured and the joy on face of bride and bridegroom stating that they are finally getting married in such difficult times was fulfilling. We also had an ear on the door to listen to the movements outside the room and to check if anyone was coming.
Were you eventually caught? And if you were caught then what happened to you?
Yes, I was caught by the soldiers and sentenced to death and I was kept in jail for 6 months. But I was glad, that the couple I had conducted the ceremony for, had managed to escape.
Could you tell us something about your life in prison?
The jailor of that prison was Asterius. He was a very kind man. His daughter used to meet me daily while I was in the prison. The young couples whom I had married also came to meet me while I was in prison. My imprisonment made the knowledge of my actions public, which increased my fame. During my prison sentence, I fell in love with the jailors daughter.
What! You fell in love with jailor’s daughter? How is that possible at that age and in such short time?
A person can fall on love at any stage of life and the love is immortal. I was sentenced to death at the age of 32.
Ok sir, you said that you were in love with Asterius’s daughter. How was your last day with your lover?
I was sad and cursed myself for encouraging her all those days. I wrote a final letter to her on that day without meeting her. I ended that letter with a statement “FROM YOUR VALENTINE”. This is the statement that you are now using to end your love letters.
Oh sir, this statement will be the ending statement of our love letters too. We hope that our future generations also remember you and your love story.
“Every February 14, across the world, cores of candies, flowers and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of Saint Valentine. We call this day as Lover’s day formally Valentine’s day.”
