Valentí de Terni

Who they were

Saint Valentino was bishop of Terni, becoming famous for his holiness of life, his charity and humility, his zealous apostolate and the miracles he performed. According to the tradition, he was invited to Rome by the orator Cratone to heal his long-sick son, and after doing so converted the boy, his family, and the Greek scholars Proculus, Ephebus and Apollonius, along with the son of the city prefect.

He was arrested, tortured and beheaded by night, and buried by his disciples at Terni on the Via Flaminia; Proculus, Ephebus and Apollonius were later martyred too and buried with him. Older accounts placed his episcopate from 197 and his martyrdom as late as 273, which would mean an implausibly long episcopate, so scholars now place his martyrdom around the middle of the 4th century. Historians have concluded that this bishop of Terni is the sole authentic Saint Valentine venerated on 14 February, and that a separate Roman priest of the same name commemorated on the same day probably never existed.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

Bishop of Terni martyred for the faith and buried on the Via Flaminia; feast 14 February.