Feb 14 - Who Was St Valentine?

Who was Valentine? When his feast was established in the fifth century the pope included Valentine among all those “... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God." So we can say confidently that he was a Roman martyr. In todays pod we learn about the records of Early Christian martyrs called martyrologies, and the three Valentines linked to the 14th of Feb. Our leading candidate for Saint Valentine was a clergyman – either a priest or a bishop – in the Roman Empire who ministered to persecuted Christians. He was martyred and his body buried at a Christian cemetery on the Via Flaminia close to the Ponte Milvio to the north of Rome. According to the official biography of the Diocese of Terni, Bishop Valentine was on a temporary stay in Rome when he was imprisoned, tortured, and martyred there on February 14, 269. Who are the other possibilities? How did his feast became associated with romantic love ? Listen to todays pod here https://www.buzzsprout.com/1226960/7805977-feb-14-saint-valentine.mp3?blob_id=34904746&download=true