St. Valentine(s) Day or St. Cyril & St. Methodius Day on Feb 14th?

The answer to the question seems to be, in part, related to where you live!

While February 14^th has been celebrated as St. Valentine’s Day in North America and parts of Europe since the 17^th century, the February 14^th memorial on the Liturgical Calendar of the Catholic Church is now for St. Cyril and St. Methodius, the “Apostles to the Slavs”.  In 1969, February 14^th was designated to be the feast day (memorial) for these brother saints on the Roman Calendar.

St. Valentine(s) “The” St. Valentine whose feast day was formerly on the Roman Calendar is most widely understood to be a Bishop of the Italian city of Terni who lived between 175 and 245 A.D.  He was jailed and martyred during Roman persecution for refusing to deny Christ. Some say that he acquired the name “Valentine” because of the strength he demonstrated during his martyrdom as the name may be derived from the Latin word “valens” meaning strong and vigorous.   St. Valentine’s feast day was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 A.D. to be celebrated on February 14^th.   That said, there are apparently 22 lives of canonized saints with the name Valentine recorded in the martyrologies of the Church.  The Catholic Encyclopedia https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15254a.htm indicates that there are 3 different martyrs associated with St. Valentine’s Day. 

A slightly different description of St. Valentine is contained in The Golden Legend compiled by Blessed Jacobus de Voragine in the 1260’s, that relates a miraculous story of a priest name Valentine living in the 3^rd century under the rule of the emperor Claudius.  Valentine was brought before the emperor to explain his protest against the Roman practice of idolatry, and he said, “Truly Christ alone is God!” Although Claudius did not immediately react, his prefect did and Valentine was turned over to his custody.  When Valentine entered the prefect’s house, he said “Lord Jesus Christ, true light, enlighten this house and let all here know you as true God!” The prefect had a blind daughter, and told Valentine, “if he gives light to my daughter, I will do whatever you tell me to do!” Valentine prayed for the daughter, her sight was restored and the prefect became a Christian.  Valentine then earned his status as a martyr, as the emperor ordered him to be beheaded in 280 A.D. 

In an effort to commemorate on the Roman Calendar, saints of “universal importance”, the Second Vatican Council document, Sacrosanctum Concilium, suggested changes in the Roman Calendar; and February 14^th was re-designated as the memorial for St. Cyril and St. Methodius.

St. Cyril and St. Methodius St. Cyril and St. Methodius were important evangelizers living in 9^th century Europe who were instrumental in spreading Christianity to Great Moravia and Eastern Europe; and are honored in both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches for their evangelization.  The brotherly saints named Constantine (Cyril) and Michael (Methodius) were born in Thessalonica (Greece) in around 815 A.D. (Michael) and 825 A.D. (Constantine). They are called the “Apostles to the Slavs” as they traveled to Great Moravia in 863 to evangelize the people at the request of the Byzantine Emperor Michael III.  At that time, it was normal in the Eastern church to translate the liturgy into the language of the people, although the Western church evangelized in Greek or Latin. Since the Slavic people did not have a written language, Cyril devised the Glagolitic alphabet which was based on the Greek alphabet that evolved into the Cyrillic script and is still in use today in many languages including Russian.  The saints used the alphabet to translate the liturgy, and parts of the Bible into the Slavonic language including the New Testament and many of the Psalms.

Different Days of Celebration The saints were canonized in 1880 by Pope Leo XIII; and in 1980, Pope John Paul II declared them as co-patrons of Europe together with St. Benedict of Nursia.  The saints are celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church on May 11th and on February 14th (the date of St. Cyril’s death in 869) in the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches.   Saints Cyril and Methodius Day is a national holiday in the Czech Republic and Slovakia on July 5th.  May 24th is the day of their celebration in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Russia.

There are many churches across the world under the patronage of St. Cyril and St. Methodius, and many more which have statues and stained glass windows commemorating the brothers.  Read more about the lives of St. Cyril and St. Methodius, as well as their iconography at https://churchwonders.com/st-cyril-and-st-methodius/

This content was originally posted on https://churchwonders.com on February 8, 2025.