In the last post we explored how the relics of 5 star internationally renowned saint, St Valentine, (who was, probably, a 3rd century Roman) somehow, – improbably but rather wonderfully ended up by the 19th century  in the church of the Carmelite White Friars, right here in Dublin.  It’s a remarkable and heart warming story.

But we never really answered the other, second part of the question we posed ourselves last time out:  Who exactly was Saint Valentine?  Where did he live,  and die?  And what did he do to make himself so famous, and well, so romantic?

Even a cursory glance at the dreaded Wikipedia, that first resort of all lazy researchers,  tells us Valentine is a saint venerated in both the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox traditions.  So far, so good.

mosaic of Valentine, in the eastern, Byzantine tradition.

But wait.  Although approved for veneration in…