St. Valentine

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia (you know, to this day I type that word with Jiminy Cricket singing the spelling in my ear. I know, I'm dating myself. But I digress....)

Ahem. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there were three St. Valentines: a bishop in Rome, another as bishop of Interamna (modern Terni), and a third in Africa. None of them seems to have done anything to inspire the current Hallmark Holiday.

However...

The popular customs associated with Saint Valentine's Day undoubtedly had their origin in a conventional belief generally received in England and France during the Middle Ages, that on 14 February, i.e. half way through the second month of the year, the birds began to pair. For this reason the day was looked upon as specially consecrated to lovers and as a proper occasion for writing love letters and sending lovers' tokens.

I guess we can correctly state, then, that Valentine's Day is for the birds.

DH and I will share a lovely dinner, but are saving the gifties in lieu of kitchen remodeling. Maybe putting up another bird feeder would be a fitting tribute!