Sanctus Simplicitus

Here are a couple of St. Valentine activities, a little late but they will be here next year! Also visit the Feast of Saint Valentine Page under the Liturgical year menu to find all things for Saint Valentine's Day!

As promised some of the quotes I used for the heart decorations and for writing on hand made Valentine's. Have fun and enjoy!

This year we made Valentine's from The Liturgical Year, Celebrating a Year with God available at Catholic Heritage Curricula. We had plans to make more and we may still tomorrow and send them to friends and family. Boys only seem to enjoy coloring and crafting before they have to return to racing cars and playing with legos. In the Sacred Heart Valentine is a quote, later I will post the list of Valentine themed quotes that I collected. They all focus on God's love for us and our love for him, as Saint Valentine was a martyr for Christ and his love of Him.

Pictures 2 and 3 on the top row are of a heart shaped candle holder, purchased at the dollar store. I cut the Sacred Heart picture from the same book the Valentine's came from. Colored it and pasted a picture of Jesus with the sacred heart. I printed out some slips for each boy that says so and so "loves Jesus", ever time they do a good deed they get to put a slip in Jesus' heart and fill it with love and good deeds. When they are naughty a slip comes out because it makes Jesus sad. This we will keep up for a while, it should serve as a good practice during Lent as well.

Cookies! All the boys in this house, even the big, love sugar cookies. So we made some hearts and crosses. I decorated some of the hearts with thorns for the Sacred Heart and some with what I call my attempt at roses for the Immaculate Heart. Next year I think I'll make some actual cookie cutters in the shape of the Immaculate Heart and Sacred Heart using the directions from Maria Von Trapp's book in the Christmas section, what a great idea to make cookie cutters from tin cans! Any shape I can imagine at that!

That last few pictures are hearts with saint's quotes on them that are taped to the back of our door to remind us of God's love for us. And the boys each got a bag with goodies and St. Valentine on the front along with a lamentated holy card of Saint Valentine. Inside are those candy coated almonds. In our book about Saint Valentine after his martyrdom they plant an almond tree near his grave that blooms every Feb. 14th. Feel free to share your Feast of Saint Valentine ideas!

What do you know, our library had this great book on Saint Valentine. The story keeps in line with any of the other information that I have read about Saint Valentine, or rather any of the 3 Saint Valentine's listed in the Catholic Encyclopedia. The art work is ok. The story really shows the true spirit behind celebrating the Feast of Saint Valentine. You can also find the book at Amazon for purchase here.
They also had this Saint Valentine book by Robert Sabuda, that I will be viewing shortly, it is amazing what the library carries if one looks! A great way to preview books before purchasing them especially when they cannot be previewed in a book store. (UPDATE 2-15-2011: Not impressed with the second book, it was not written from a Catholic preservative and left a lot to be desired. I wouldn't say that it made Saint Valentine out to be very holy. Maybe a personal preference but we will probably purchase the first book above for our family library and stick with that version for now.)

Taken from "Practical Aids for Catholic Teachers" by Sister Mary Aurelia, O.S.F., M.A. (Sisters of St. Francis, Millvale, Pa.) and Rev. Felix M. Kirsch, O.M.Cap., Litt.D. (Capuchin College, Catholic Uniersity, Washington, D.C.) written in 1928 with imprimaturs

St. Valentine's Day - February 14
To the Teacher: The feast of St. Valentine will give the Catholic teacher a splendid opportunity to encourage children to send messages and greetings of Catholic import and meaning to their friends instead of such that are not only foolish but often pagan in character and which take the form of valentines, as they are called. What purpose does it serve to let the children cut out hearts, darts, cupids, and the like, to send to their friends? How much better to suggest to the children to make religious pictures and booklets to send to their friends! A message of cheerfulness and encouragement to the sick, to those in affliction, in imitation of the thoughtfulness of St. Valentine is much better. The sending of valentines has assumed great proportions. Catholic teachers can start a crusade against this custom by introducing a counter movement which will serve to perpetuate the real motive that actuated St. Valentine. It will not do merely to frown on the custom or to voice disapproval; to combat it effectively something better must be substituted. This plan has been tried in some schools with great success. It appealed, not only to the children, but to the adult members of the family as well. If the children cannot make booklets, introduce the custom of sending holy pictures. It will be a good investment, even if the teacher must supply the pictures. Children do not usually make much use of holy pictures unless they are taught to mount them on construction paper or paste them in booklets. This is an interesting occupation for them and at the same time much good can be accomplished if they study the picture and write a sentence or two under each.

The courage of St. Valentine
The story of St. Valentine is very interesting and it shows that even when the saints were suffering every kind of pain and torture, they had the courage to go on and do all they could to help others. St. Valentine was a priest who did much good among the people. At the time he lived, wicked men were trying to kill every one that believed in Christ. They were especially anxious to kill those that were teaching the people to know Christ. St. Valentine was not afraid, but he went about doing his work, helping his people. When he was put into prison he did not forget his friends. He spent his time praying for them and in writing little letters to them. He tied these messages around the necks of pigeons and sent them to his friends. You can imagine how glad they were to get a letter from the good Father Valentine as they called him. These letters cheered the people and helped to make them strong in their faith. Now you know why people send valentines. However, instead of sending such silly messages as some people are sending today, we shall send kind letters to the sick, the poor, the helpless, to cheer them in their sufferings. That is what St. Valentine did. 
I have a little plan for you. I know you will wish to be like St. Valentine and make others happy. Now you say, "How can we do that?" I shall tell you. It is very easy. Suppose you make a booklet containing some beautiful pictures of the Infant Jesus or the Blessed Virgin or some other saint. I know you can make somebody happy by sending them such a booklet. What do you think of my plan? Do you wish to do this? To whom can we send the booklets? That can be easily settled. There are many children in hospitals or in orphan asylums. Don't you think they would like your little books? Would it make them feel better? Would St. Valentine want you to do that? Make uproar minds today which pictures you wish to use for your booklet. You can paste the pictures into it during your spare time. Tomorrow we shall get them ready to send away. While you are making booklets, think of St. Valentine and the messages he sent to his friends. Ask him to help you make others happy, especially those that are sick or in trouble. 
Practice:
1. I will make the best booklet I know how to make
2. I will not spend any money on silly valentines, but I will make pictures or booklets to send to my friends.

Hearts good and true
Have wishes few
In narrow circles bounded,
And hope that lives
On what God gives
Is Christian hope well founded.

Small things are best:
Grief and unrest
To rank and wealth are given;
But little things
On little wings
Bear little souls to Heaven.
Fr. Faber

January is near it's end and one of the most known  feast days of February is coming up, that of Saint Valentine.

St.Valentine (Valentino) was a Roman priest who performed marriages in spite of Claudius II's law against such (Claudius believed that marriage was distracting to his soldiers, so outlawed it to them for a time). Fr. Valentine was martyred in A.D. 270 on the Flammian way, and at the site of his martyrdom, Julius I built a popular basilica.

Other than this, little is known. Because two other St. Valentines share this Feast day ("Valentine" was an extremely common name for Christians as it has the same root as the word "valor"), often their stories are confused, but it is the Roman priest-martyr whom we honor during the liturgy.

The relics of St. Valentine -- at least a great majority of them -- are, interestingly enough, in the Whitefriar Church associated with the Calced Carmelites in Dublin, Ireland. They were excavated from the Cemetery of St. Hippolytus, on the Triburtine Way in Rome in 1835 and were then given to Fr. Spratt, an Irish Carmelite, by Pope Gregory XVI in 1836. The relics, "together with a small vessel tinged with his blood," were deposited "in a wooden case covered with painted paper, well closed, tied with a red silk ribbon and sealed with our seals and we have so delivered and consigned to him, and we have granted unto him power in the Lord, to the end that he may retain to himself, give to others, transmit beyond the city (Rome) and in any church, oratory or chapel, to expose and place the said blessed holy body for the public veneration of the faithful without, however, an Office and Mass, conformably to the decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, promulgated on the 11th day of August 1691," as the letter accompanying the relics reads. On this Feast Day, his relics are carried in procession, and a special Mass is offered for young people and lovers.

Here are some online readings and craft resources, please share if you have more!

 Saint Valentine Coloring Page


From Fisheaters.com
"To send a very Catholic valentine to someone you love, how about using a paraphrase of today's Collect as the basis for the text? Grant, I beseech Thee, O almighty God, that (Name of loved one), who celebrates the heavenly birthday of blessed Valentine, Thy Martyr, may by his intercession be delivered from all the evils that threaten (him/her). Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. ...with all the personal, mushy stuff at the bottom! For a romantic card for a spouse, some of the poetry found in Solomon's Canticle of Canticles -- a Book which uses marital love as a metaphor for God's love for His Church -- cannot be surpassed for inspiration. "

There is also a great Valentine Card making idea in "Celebrating the Liturgical Year" from Catholic Heritage Curricula.

Let us spend this Feast Day teaching our little ones that we should love God as Saint Valentine loved Him, devoting all of our actions to God, doing everything we do for Him and for our eternal end.