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| St.
Valentine |
| Valentine
was a priest in Rome arrested under Claudius the Goth for
practicing Christianity. He was committed to a magistrate
named Asterius , who had a daughter who was blind.
Valentine cured her and later converted her and the
family. The emporer upon learning of this had him beaten,
and then beheaded. In the 4th century Pope Julius I built
a church in honor of Valentine. |
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| There
are several stories regarding the tradition of exchanging
Valentine's cards and presents. One of them says that St.
Valentine, while imprisoned, was sending messages to the
daughter of Asterius and his friends. |
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| Today
St. Valentine is the patron of engaged couples and those
wishing to marry. |
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| A
Valentine Day Story |
| John
Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and
studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central
Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he
didn't: the girl with the rose. |
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| His
interest in her had begun 13 months before in a Florida library.
Taking a book off the shelf, he found himself intrigued, not with the
words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft
handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. In the
front of the book he discovered the previous owner's name, Miss Hollis
Maynell. |
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| With
time and effort he located her address. She lived in New York City. He
wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond.
The next day he was shipped overseas for service in World War II.
During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other
through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart. A
romance was budding. Blanchard requested a photograph, but she
refused. She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn't matter what she
looked like. |
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| When
the day finally came for him to return from Europe, they scheduled
their first meeting - 7:00 PM at Grand Central Station in New York.
"You'll recognize me," she wrote "by the red rose I'll
be wearing on my lapel." So at 7:00 he was at the station looking
for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he'd never seen. I'll
let Blanchard tell you what happened: |
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| A
young woman was coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blonde
hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were as blue
as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale
green suit she was like springtime come alive. I started toward her,
entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As I
moved, a small provocative smile curved her lips. "Going my way,
soldier?" she murmured. Almost uncontrollably I took one step
closer to her, and then I saw Hollis Maynell. |
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| She
was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past 40,
she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump,
her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes. The girl in the
green suit was walking away quickly. I felt as though I was split in
two, so keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my
longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned me and upheld
my own. And there she stood. |
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| Her
pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm.
and kindly twinkle. I did not hesitate. My fingers gripped the small
worn blue leather copy of the book that was to identify me to her.
This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something
perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and
must ever be grateful. I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out
the book to the woman even though while I spoke I felt choked by the
bitterness of my disappointment. "I'm Lieutenant John Blanchard,
and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me, may I
take you to dinner?" |
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| The
woman's face broadened into a tolerant smile. "I don't know what
this is all about, son," she answered, "but the young lady
in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on
my coat. And she said that if you were to ask me out to dinner, I
should tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant
across the street." |
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| It's
not difficult to understand and admire Miss Maynell's wisdom. The true
nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive.
"Tell me whom you love," Houssaye wrote, "and I will
tell you who you are." |
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| by
Fr. Frank Mihalic, SVD from his book The Storyteller's Minute |
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| ©2002 Society of
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