
Valentine was a Roman from the Via Lata quarter who entered the Church's service as a boy. St Paschal I, who valued his piety, ordained him and made him archdeacon, and he kept that office under Eugene II. On Eugene's death he was chosen unanimously by clergy, nobles and people, and was found at prayer in St Mary Major's when they came for him.
He is remembered chiefly for the shortness of his reign: about forty days according to the Liber Pontificalis, barely a month according to the chronicler Einhard. Nothing is recorded of what he did as pope.
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