February Holy Days

St. Valentine

Feb. 1 - St. Bridget of Ireland - a friend of St. Patrick who baptized her parents.  Bridget founded a double monastery at Kildare.

Feb. 3 - St. Blase - patron saint of throat illnesses - feast day included the blessing of the throats because St. Blase cured a boy who had a fishbone stuck in his throat.

Feb. 5 - St. Agatha - a Sicilian martyr, patron saint of bellmakers, protector in fires

Feb. 10 - St. Scholastica - a sister of St. Benedict who founded a monastery, as Benedict's sister she became the patron saint of all nuns.

Feb. 14 - St. Valentine - A depiction of a St. Valentine.  Valentine was Roman priest during the reign of Claudius II.  It is said that he and St. Marius helped Christian martyrs being persecuted.  One of the ways in which he helped them was to perform marriages.  He was arrested, beaten and refused to renounce his faith after which he was beheaded on February 14, 269.  February 14th coincided with a Roman feast of Lupercalia which was a bizarre fertility rite complete with matchmaking lottery.  It was also Galatin's Day "lover of women" celebrated by the Normans.  Chaucer is credited for making Valentine's Day synonymous with romantic love through his poetry.

Feb. 16 - St. Juliana of Nicomedia - patron of sickness, she was martyred for refusing to marry a pagan

Feb. 22 - St.Peter's Chair- commemoration of the creation of the See of Antioch by St. Peter