Utrecht San Valentino

You can not overlook it. It’s Valen- tine’s day. A day for lovers but also the anniversary of the martyrs of Terni and Rome.


Maybe they are the same person. There are a lot of versions about the Valentines so I don’t write them down :).
Valentine is buried in Rome on the Via Flaminia . He died in 269 AD by order of the Roman Emperor Claudius II Gothicus in person.
In the jail Valentine kissed the blind jailor’s daughter who could see after that. Before he died he wrote a love letter to the jailer’s daughter: ”From your Valentine”. On February 14 of course. Pope Gelasius I proclaimed, in the year 496, February 14 as Saint Valentine’s (of Terni) Day.

What has it to do with love?
That’s an other story.
The pagans of Rome celebrated the days of Lupercus from February 13-15. The custom was that the names of the men and woman, who were present, were put into an um (urn). The lot appointed the couples.
True or not true, the tales are nice.

On the picture: the shop window of book shop Selexyz Broese on the Stadhuisbrug