Valentine’s
Day is the day for couples to celebrate their love, but many may not know that
it is also special for people with epilepsy.
Saint Valentine is the patron saint of epilepsy. It’s a strange and complicated story, but
then again, epilepsy is also strange and complicated.
To
begin with, there was more than one Saint Valentine. There was a priest in Rome
in the 3rd century AD named Valentinus. Around the same time, there lived Valentine
the Bishop of Interamna (now Terni) in Umbria, Italy. Since being a Christian was against the law,
they were beheaded. It is said that
these two men were the same person. The
Roman Valentine did exist for certain because there is a catacomb and a church
dedicated to him. He was known to heal
people through prayer.
There
is another Saint Valentine in Germany who comes into play—St. Valentine of
Ratien or Passau. He was the missionary
Bishop in the Lower Bavaria region, Germany in 435 AD. He tried to convert the population to
Christianity, but failed. He worked as a
missionary in the Danube and Alps region until his death in 475 AD.
The
word “fallen” meaning “to fall or to drop” in German, sounds similar to the
first two syllables of “Valentine.” Perhaps that is why there is such a strong
connection between St. Valentine and epilepsy.
On
a separate note, there are many examples of portrayals of epilepsy in religious art, and it looks like they knew what they were doing.
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