St Valentine & Dublin & how Did he get so famous !!!

CDfm · 04-02-2011 7:28pm #1

Not many people know this but the remains of St Valentine (one of the 3 Saint Valentinesare kept in a Carmelite Church off Grafton Street Dublin.

Its down the alley way with all the jewellery shops and this is how it got there.

Irish Historical Mysteries: St Valentine in Dublin

Statue of St Valentine, Whitefriar Street Church, Dublin

Distinguishing fact from fiction in the case of St Valentine is not easy, as there were at least 3 saints of the name, all of whom died as martyrs. The first Valentine was a Roman priest martyred under the Emperor Claudius II in 269 or 270 AD, the second was a Bishop of Terni killed in the same century, and little is known of the third who died in Africa.
St Valentine's Feast Day falls on 14 February, on which day lovers have customarily exchanged cards and other tokens of affection. It is not clear why Valentine should have been chosen as the patron saint of lovers, but it has been suggested that there may be a connection with the pagan Roman Festival of Lupercalia. During this Festival, which took place in the middle of February, young men and girls chose one another as partners. Legend, no doubt embellished if not entirely fictional, has it that the Roman Valentine resisted an edict of the Emperor forbidding the marriage of young men bound for military service, for which offence he was put to death.
Valentine's Feast is also linked with the belief that birds are supposed to pair on 14 February, which legend provided the inspiration for Chaucer's 'Parliament of Fowls'. The crocus, which starts to bloom in February, is called St Valentine's Flower. The earliest Valentine letter is found in the fifteenth-century collection of Paston Letters. The general custom of sending tokens on Valentine's Day developed during the nineteenth century, and in the present century has spread to the east, where it appears to be particularly popular in Japan. The exchange of Valentine cards, flowers, sweets and other gifts has thus become a multi-million dollar international industry. It is estimated that in excess of one billion Valentine cards are sent each year in the United States of America alone.
It may not be widely known outside Ireland that the Carmelite Church in Whitefriar Street in Dublin City claims to hold the remains of St Valentine. The Carmelites first arrived in Ireland in 1271, and today there is a community of 17 in the Monastery attached to Whitefriar Street Church. The story of how the remains of St Valentine came to rest in Whitefriar Street is interesting, and involves a famous nineteenth-century Carmelite attached to the Church, Fr John Spratt. Fr Spratt visited Rome in 1835, and apparently largely on the strength of his powers as a preacher, Pope Gregory XVI decided to make his Church a gift of St Valentine's body, then believed to be in the Cemetery of St Hippolitus in Rome. The remains of Valentine were duly transferred to Whitefriar Street Church in 1836, and since that date have been venerated there, especially around the time of the Saint's Feast Day.
As is the case with some other famous saints, there are rival claimants for the honour of possessing the body of St Valentine, and in view of past scandals concerning the manufacture and sale of relics, authenticating them is notoriously difficult. Thus some accounts claim that the remains of St Valentine were in fact buried in the Church of St Praxedes in Rome. It is stated that Valentine of Terni is buried in that town, and an effigy of him in bishop's dress may be viewed there. In 1999 there was widespread newspaper and television coverage of the claim that St Francis's Church in Glasgow holds the 'real' relics of St Valentine. In response to the implication that Whitefriar Street possesses only a False Valentine, there were calls for DNA testing, which of course are wide of the mark as there exists no point of comparison. Yet it may legitimately be asked how a Dublin priest could have persuaded tourism-conscious Romans to part with such a draw as the complete remains of St Valentine, and what we have here is a minor historical mystery. Perhaps a selection of relics is all that might have been donated to Dublin, and publication of relevant contemporary documents would help to throw some light on the matter.
The Whitefriar Street Carmelites have now published online the following translation of a letter in Latin which accompanied the remains of St Valentine when they arrived in Dublin:

We, Charles, by the divine mercy, Bishop of Sabina of the Holy Roman Church, Cardinal Odescalchi Arch Priest of the Sacred Liberian Basilica, Vicar General of our most Holy Father the Pope and Judge in Ordinary of the Roman Curia and of its Districts, etc, etc.

To all and everyone who shall inspect these our present letters, we certify and attest, that for the greater glory of the omnipotent God and veneration of his saints, we have freely given to the Very Reverend Father Spratt, Master of Sacred Theology of the Order of Calced Carmelites of the convent of that Order at Dublin, in Ireland, the blessed body of St Valentine, martyr, which we ourselves by the command of the most Holy Father Pope Gregory XVI on the 27th day of December 1835, have taken out of the cemetery of St Hippolytus in the Tiburtine Way, together with a small vessel tinged with his blood and have deposited them in a wooden case covered with painted paper, well closed, tied with a red silk ribbon and sealed with our seals and we have so delivered and consigned to him, and we have granted unto him power in the Lord, to the end that he may retain to himself, give to others, transmit beyond the city (Rome) and in any church, oratory or chapel, to expose and place the said blessed holy body for the public veneration of the faithful without, however, an Office and Mass, conformably to the decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, promulgated on the 11th day of August 1691.

In testimony whereof, these letters, testimonial subscribed with our hand, and sealed with our seal, we have directed to be expedited by the undersigned keeper of sacred relics.

Rome, from our Palace, the 29th day of the month of January 1836.

C.Cardinal Vicar

Regd. Tom 3. Page 291

Philip Ludovici Pro-Custos

For those wishing to visit St Valentine's Shrine in Dublin, Whitefriar Street Church is located between Aungier Street and Wexford Street, and is just a few minutes' walk west of St Stephen's Green. Within the Whitefriar Street Church building there is a shop where one can purchase various souvenirs, such as cards, keyrings and other material bearing Valentine's image. Unlike most other surviving inner city churches in Dublin, Whitefriar Street always seems to be busy, and as well as the shrine to St Valentine, there are shrines to the Black Madonna and St Albert. The Whitefriar Street Fathers today emphasise St Valentine's association 'with young people and their needs as they grow into maturity and adult life'. To express it more romantically, the Whitefriar Street Shrine to St Valentine has been and continues to be a place of pilgrimage for those celebrating love - as well as for those who have lost it or have yet to find it!

Sean Murphy
Last revised 12 February 2007

Anyone got any idea how St Valentines day traditions started/

http://homepage.eircom.net/~seanjmurphy/irhismys/valentine.htm

CDfm · 05-02-2011 10:05pm

St. Valentine's Day Massacre with Pictures - 1929 - Al Capone True Crime Story

A True Crime Story of Guns and Gangsters

One February evening in North Chicago, seven well-dressed men were found riddled with bullets inside the S.M.C Cartage Co. garage. They had been lined up against a wall, with their backs to their executioners and shot to death. With the exception of Dr. Reinhardt H. Schwimmer these men were mobsters working under the leadership of gangster and bootlegger, "Bugs" Moran. Within a few seconds, while staring at a bare brick wall, these seven men had become a part of Valentine's Day history: the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. [continued below]

Chicago policemen re-enact the St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1929)

During the height of prohibition and the never-ending competition between gangster rivals Al "Scarface" Capone and George "Bugs" Moran, bloody warfare was nothing new to the authorities of Chicago. However, investigators on the scene found the Valentine's Day Massacre to be somewhat puzzling. The victims were mobsters, with an endless supply of weapons and well known capability for brutality. Why would they turn their backs and face the wall for anyone without putting up a fight? That was one of many questions to be answered.
Another question came about after an eyewitness gave her account of what happened on that night in 1929. She lived directly across the street and had a perfect view of the garage. She claimed to have seen two uniformed policemen exit the garage while escorting two plain clothed men who held their hands up in the air, as if they were under arrest. Of course, this comforted the shaken woman, thinking that the loud gun fire that she had just heard had been resolved and the parties responsible were being taken into custody. However, the Chicago police had no record of any such activity at 2122 Clark Street until they arrived on the scene to find the horrifying blood bath.
When it comes to suspects, a murder mystery can run the gamut of possibilities. In the case of The Valentine's Day Massacre, the person with the most motive was not difficult to come by. Although he claimed to be in Florida at the time of the murders, Al Capone was, without hesitation, the one and only suspect in this infamous crime. Thanks to prohibition, Capone had become the crime czar of Chicago, running gambling, prostitution and bootlegging rackets while continuously expanding his territories by getting rid of rival gangs. Capones fortune was estimated at $60,000,000. That kind of money gave Al Capone one of the oldest and most common motives in murder mystery history. He had to take down "Bugs" Moran at any cost. But as one of the leading gangsters in Chicago, Moran was not an easy person to get rid of. So in order to get rid of Moran, Capone chose to start at the bottom and get rid of Moran's outfit, leaving him defenseless.
When the bodies were discovered splattered on the floor of the garage, it seemed at first glance, that not one single person could have survived the force of the attack. However, this proved to be untrue, when one investigator on the scene found Frank Gusenberg lying amongst the bloody corpses, breathing heavily and choking on his own blood. Immediately, the unconscious victim was taken to the hospital where investigators waited with anticipation for their only possible lead to wake up and finger the men who were responsible. Their greatest fear was that he would die before they had the opportunity to question him, but eventually he did wake. When he was asked for the identity of the killer, he simply stated "I'm not gonna talk," before he laid his head back and died. Without Frank Gusenberg's testimony and with only a few eye witnesses outside the garage, the investigators had to return to the scene of the crime and try to piece the murder together with what information they had.
After a re-enactment of the crime, authorities concluded that the two men dressed as policemen entered the garage and acted as if they were police on a routine investigation. The Moran outfit automatically assumed that they were policemen on a routine sting. It was obvious that they didnt suspect anything questionable with the two uniformed killers or they certainly would have never been killed without a fight. But as it was, the mobsters seemed to have cooperated with the costumed officers and consequently let the fake policemen disarm them and force them up against the wall. As soon as their backs were turned, the two men in plain clothes entered with guns and shot them down.
Therefore, the eye-witnesses were somewhat accurate when they claimed to have seen two policemen arresting two men. What they had actually seen was four brutal murderers making their cleverly planned get away. If a neighbor or neighbors looked out after such rapid and explosive gunfire, what better way to calm their nerves, by letting them think that everything was under control. And indeed it was under control. The mysterious killers drove away into the night, long before anyone thought to call the police, because the neighbors saw from their windows that the police were already there.
As any mystery lover knows, a murder mystery would not be complete without a clear and well defined conclusion, but in the case of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, it has every element of the mystery, but the ending. Al Capone was never arrested for the crimes; the mysterious gun men were never identified and Capone never graced a reader or interested member of the public with an over dramatic confession. Instead, he was blandly indicted for tax evasion some years later and spent seven years in prison only to be released to retire in Florida, where he died from Syphilis in 1947.
In many respects, the Valentine's Day Massacre follows the perfect mystery blueprint up to the end. Although Capone never went into complete detail on the events of the massacre, perhaps he did allude to his future plans for that bloody Valentine's Day in 1929. A few months prior to the murders, Al Capone mentioned to a fellow "associate" his plan to take down Moran. Capone was told by the "associate" that he would have to kill a lot of people in order to get to "Bugs" Moran. It is rumored that Capone replied by simply saying: "I'll send flowers.

http://www.mysterynet.com/vdaymassacre/

February 14th hasn't always been that eventful , other things happened too - its the anniversary of King Billy being made King of England and Salman Rushdie has a Fatwah issued against him.

February 14 Events in History - February 14 Birthdays - February 14 Deaths
2010 Viktor Yanukovych is declared the official winner of Ukraine's presidential election 2001 Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft becomes first vehicle to land on an asteroid (433 Eros) 1995 Roseanne weds bodyguard Ben Thomas 1995 Wellington 2-498d and 4-475 beat Canterbury 496 and 2-476d 1994 Alexander Golubev skates Olympic record 500m (36.33) 1994 Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia (51) weds Deborah Koons 1993 Fire in Linxi department store in Tangshan China, kills 79 1992 Andre Cason runs world record 6 m indoor (6.41 sec) 1992 Cease fire in Somalia begins 1992 Kieren John Perkins swims world record 800m freestyle (7:46.60) 1992 Merlene Ottey runs world record 60m indoor (6.96 sec) 1991 "Mule Bone" opens at Ethel Barrymore Theater New York City for 67 performances 1991 NL Cy Young winner Doug Drabek wins record $3 mil salary arbitration 1990 Alan Ayckbourn's "Man of the Moment," premieres in London 1990 Perrier recalls 160 million bottles of sparkling water after traces of benzene, a carcinogen, are found in some 1990 Space probe Voyager 1 takes photograph of entire solar system 1989 African National Congress (ANC) opens office in Amsterdam 1989 Boxer Mike Tyson divorces actress Robin Givens 1989 Khomeini orders Moslems to murder "Satanic Verses" novelist Rushdie 1989 Robin Givens is granted a divorce from Mike Tyson in Dom Rep 1989 Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 mill damages for Bhopol disaster 1989 World's 1st satellite Skyphone opens 1988 49th PGA Seniors Golf Championship: Gary Player 1988 Alfredo Stroessner re-elected president of Paraguay 1988 Bobby Allison at 50 becomes oldest driver to win Daytona 500 1988 General hospital star Jackie Zeman marries Glenn Gorden 1988 Patty Sheehan wins LPGA Sarasota Golf Classic 1987 53,745 largest NBA crowd to date-Philadelphia at Detroit 1985 Hostage CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is released in Beirut 1984 Singer Elton John marries Renate Blauel in Sydney, Australia 1982 "Night of 100 Stars" takes place at New York's Radio City Music Hall 1982 Hollis Stacy wins LPGA S&H Golf Classic 1980 "West Side Story" opens at Minskoff Theater New York City for 341 performances 1980 13th Winter Olympic games open in Lake Placid, New York 1980 U.S. launches Solar Maximum Mission Observatory to study solar flares 1979 "Whoopee!" opens at ANTA Theater New York City for 204 performances 1978 1st "micro on a chip" patented by Texas Instruments 1978 In girls' High School basketball, Chicago Latin beats Harvard St. George 1976 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site 1975 Bomb explodes at annex of Amsterdam metro station 1972 John and Yoko co-host "Mike Douglas Show" for entire week 1972 Luna 20 (Russia) launched to orbit and soft landing on Moon 1971 Movie "Ben Hur" 1st shown on television 1971 Richard Nixon installs secret taping system in White House 1970 "Gantry" closes at George Abbott Theater New York City after 1 performance 1968 Pennsylvania Railroad/New York City Central merge into Penn Central 1968 WHKY TV channel 14 in Hickory, North Carolina (IND) begins broadcasting 1967 Aretha Franklin records "Respect" 1967 Latin American nuclear free zone proposal drawn up 1966 Australia introduces 1st decimal currency postage stamps 1966 Wilt Chamberlain breaks NBA career scoring record at 20,884 points 1966 Writers Andrei Sinjavski and Joeij Daniel found guilty 1963 U.S. launches communications satellite Syncom 1 1962 1st lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducts White House tour on TV 1961 Element 103, Lawrencium, 1st produced in Berkeley California 1961 Louise Suggs wins LPGA Royal Poinciana Golf Invitational 1960 Beverly Hanson wins LPGA St. Petersburg Golf Open 1960 Marshal Ayub Khan elected president of Pakistan 1959 $3.6 million heroin seizure in New York City 1958 Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan forms 1957 Georgia Senate unanimously approves Senator Leon Butts' bill barring blacks from playing baseball with whites 1956 20th Congress of CPSU opens in Moscow 1956 Indonesia withdraws from Netherlands Indonesian Union 1956 Verhoeven/Nauta/De King/Wijnhout win Dutch 11 city skate 1955 WFLA (now WXFL) TV channel 8 in Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida (NBC) begins 1954 Beverly Hanson wins LPGA St. Petersburg Golf Open 1954 Senator John Kennedy appears on "Meet the Press" 1954 WTOC TV channel 11 in Savannah, Georgia (CBS) begins broadcasting 1952 6th Olympic winter games open at Oslo, Norway 1952 Comedian Joey Adams marries gossip columnist Cindy Heller 1951 Sugar Ray Robinson defeats Jake LaMotta and takes middleweight title 1950 Moroney scores cricket twin centuries for Australia at Johannesburg 1950 U.S.S.R. and China sign peace treaty 1949 1st session of Knesset (Jerusalem Israel) 1949 Dutch Drees government presents plan for the building of 30,000 houses 1946 Bank of England nationalized 1945 8th Air Force bombs Dresden 1945 Peru, Paraguay, Chile and Ecuador joins UN 1944 Anti-Japanese revolt on Java 1944 Carl Wick publishes "Salmon Trolling for Commercial and Sport Fishing 1943 German offensive through de Faid-pass Tunisia 1943 Soviets recapture Rostov 1942 Japanese parachutists land near oil center Palembang Sumatra 1942 Rotterdam's Maas tunnel opens 1941 1,000,000th vehicle traverses the New York Midtown Tunnel 1941 Carson McCuller's "Reflections in a Golden Eye" published 1941 Cebrie Park in the Bronx renamed Halsey Street 1941 German Africa Corps lands in Tripoli, Libya 1940 British merchant vessel fleet is armed 1939 Victor Fleming replaces George Cukor as director of 'Gone With the Wind' 1936 U.S. Female Figure Skating championship won by Maribel Vinson 1936 U.S. Male Figure Skating championship won by Robin Lee 1934 NHL Ace Bailey Benefit Game: Toronto beats All-Stars 7-3 in Toronto 1932 South Africa all out for 36 in 1st innings vs. Australia (Ironmonger 5-6) 1931 Bradman scores 152 Australia vs. WI, 154 minutes, 13 fours 2 fives 1931 Spanish Government of General Damasco Berenguer falls 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago, 7 gangsters killed 1925 State of emergency crisis in Bayern ends, NSDAP re-allowed 1924 IBM Corporation founded by Thomas Watson 1921 Canadian 5 cent nickel coin is authorized 1921 Little Review faces obscenity charges for publishing "Ulysses," NY 1920 League of Women Voters forms in Chicago 1919 United Parcel Service forms 1918 H Atteridge and S Rombergs musical "Sinbad," premieres in New York City 1918 U.S.S.R. adopts New Style (Gregorian) calendar (originally Feb 1) 1914 High Council of Labor forms in Hague Netherlands 1912 1st U.S. submarines with diesel engines commissioned, Groton, Connecticut 1912 Arizona was admitted to the Union as the 48th state 1907 1st U.S. fox hound association forms in New York City 1903 U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor forms 1900 Date of events in movie "Picnic at Hanging Rock" 1899 U.S. Congress begins using voting machines 1896 George Lohmann takes a hat-trick vs. South Africa, 8-7 for inning 1896 South Africa all out for 30 vs. England - their lowest ever 1896 Stanley Cup: Winnipeg Victorias beat Montreal Victorias, 2-0 1896 Theodor Herzl publishes "Der Judenstaat" 1895 Oscar Wilde's "Importance of Being Earnest," opens in London 1894 Venus is both a morning star and evening star 1890 1st NSW vs. South Australia 1st-class cricket game 1889 1st train load of fruit (oranges) leaves Los Angeles for east 1887 Cubs sell Mike King Kelly to Boston for record $10,000 1883 1st state labor union legislation; New Jersey legalizes unions 1879 Chilean troops occupy Antofagasta 1876 A G Bell and Elisha Gray apply separately for telephone patents Supreme Court eventually rules Bell rightful inventor 1872 1st state bird refuge authorized (Lake Merritt, California) 1867 Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co. issues 1st policy 1867 Morehouse College organizes (Augusta Georgia) 1862 Galena, 1st U.S. iron-clad warship for service at sea, launched, Connecticut 1859 Oregon admitted as 33rd state 1848 James K. Polk became 1st President photographed in office by Matthew Brady 1803 Apple parer patented by Moses Coats, Downington, Pennsylvania 1794 1st U.S. textile machinery patent granted, to James Davenport, Philadelphia 1778 "Stars and Stripes" arrives in foreign port for 1st time (France) 1766 Dutch governor Falck signs Treaty of Batticaloa with rebels 1746 Henry Pelham appointed English premier 1711 Handels opera Rinaldo, premieres 1689 English parliament places Mary Stuart/Prince Willem III on the throne 1670 Roman Catholic emperor Leopold I chases Jews out of Vienna 1630 Dutch fleet of 69 ships reaches Pernambuco Brazil 1613 King James I's daughter Elizabeth marries Frederik 1610 Polish king Sigismund III, Forges Dimitri #2 and Romanov family sign covenant against czar Vasili Shushki 1556 Archbishop Thomas Cranmer declared a heretic 1540 Emperor Charles V enters Ghent without resistance, executes rebels 1130 Jewish Cardinal Pietro Pierleone elected as anti-pope Anacletus II 1076 Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV 1014 Pope Benedict VIII crowns Henry II, Roman German emperor 842 Charles II and Louis the German sign treaty

http://www.brainyhistory.com/days/february_14.html

sensibleken · 10-02-2011 1:47pm

The remains are in whitefriar street chuch on anguer street not the one off grafton street

St Valentine & Dublin & how Did he get so famous !!!

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