The Passion of St. Valentine

In Ombria, Italy, in a city called Interramna, there was a bishop, St. Valentine, who received from God the gift of healing. He healed people of all diseases and infirmities by prayer and the invocation of the most holy name of Jesus Christ, turned unbelievers from idolatry to God (at that time pagan paganism still prevailed in the world and wicked kings who ruled the west and the east persecuted Christians).

And it came to pass in those days, that three scholastics, of the pagan religion, named Proculus, Hephaestus, and Apollonius, who were of the city of Athens, came to Rome to learn the language and the science of Rome, and found a learned teacher, Craton, who knew both Latin and Greek, and took him to his house.

And it came to pass that one of Craton's sons, whose name was Hermon, was very sick, and his back was bent, and his head was between his knees, and he could not stand up; and many physicians were called, but they could not help him; and he was thus afflicted about three years, and had lost all hope of recovery; and there came to the house of Craton a tribune named Fronton, and seeing the sick man, he said,

And when the tribune heard of it, he advised Croton to send his sick son to the bishop; and he said of his brother, that when he was healed, he would not leave the bishop, and being drawn by his kindness, he loved him.

When Craton heard of this, he sent to the bishop some men of honour, faithful and devoted to him, with a request that he should come to him, since it was impossible to send a sick boy on such a journey.

St. Valentine said, "If you wish, your son will be healed". Craton replied, "I am surprised that you, being a wise teacher, do not understand what I am saying. I tell you again, if you wish, my sick man will be healed, for if you believe in Christ, all things are possible to him who believes".

Is a believer better than one who has taken for his gods images made of wood, stone, or whatsoever the people have made before him, and who has done evil deeds, and is not able to rest for an hour?

If you have faith in Allah, the One Who is the Unseen, and put your trust in Him, then give half of your wealth to the poor, and let them pray for you and your son, and do not compel me to accept anything from you.

Therefore, believe in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, that He is the true God, abandon all your idols, and you will see your son healthy.

<unk> There are things in human life that can neither help nor harm others; and a father's disbelief cannot harm the faith of his sons, but in need and in healing the sick the faith of one can help another, for example, a father being able to help a son, a sister a brother and a slave master.

In the Scriptures we read that the faith of the centurion brought healing to his dying servant (Matt. 8:5-13); the ruler of the synagogue saw his dying daughter brought back to life (Matt. 9:23-25); and the sisters, who were mourning over their dead and buried brother Lazarus, saw him resurrected on the fourth day according to the word of the Lord and rejoiced (John 11:1-44).

And when he had said, Behold, I am the Lord, the God of Israel; behold, I am the Lord, the God of Israel; behold, I am the Lord, the God of Israel.

I believe in the One you preach, that He is the true God, and there is none else but He who commands sickness and death to go, and they go; commands life, and it returns. St. Bishop Valentinus said to him: "The Christian faith is to be manifested not only in words, but also in deeds".

"Renounce", said the bishop, "the idols made by human hands, and receive the holy washing, that you may be children of God". "How then", asked Craton, "can water, which washes only the filth of the body, cleanse from sins?" "Water, which resolves his perplexity, is holy". "When the name of the Most Holy Trinity is invoked over it, he mysteriously receives the Holy Spirit, who cleanses all the sins of the man baptized in water".

"Our conversation is getting longer", said Craton, "and the life of my son Hermon is getting shorter". St. Valentine replied, "If you don't believe what you've never heard or seen, your son can't be healthy". "What is it", Craton wondered, "that I can't see or hear?" "Have you ever heard", the priest explained, "of a Virgin who conceived and gave birth to a virgin and remained a virgin at birth?"

Have you seen a man who walks on the sea as on land? Have you heard a man who calms the storm of the sea with a single word so that he is finally crucified, dies, is buried, rises from the dead on the third day, is taken up to heaven in the sight of many, with angels appearing to the people, testifying that he will come again from heaven to judge the living and the dead?

If you believe this to be true, then get up and be baptized so that your son will be healed and you will have eternal life.

Since all the wisdom of the world, which you call a teacher, is worthless before God, and you are not able to believe as perfectly as faith itself requires, give me your word that you and all your household will convert to Christ and be baptized after your son by my faith is healed. Then the teacher Craton, having called his wife and all his household, fell at the feet of the saint, and they all promised to become Christians if Hermon healed them.

And there were with him these young men, Proculus, Epeus, and Apollonius, who also, desiring to heal the son of their teacher, promised to become Christians. Then the holy bishop ordered that a separate room should be prepared and that they should remain in silence day and night; and he himself, taking the sick man into that room, shut him up alone.

And he was not able to speak, and only groaned; and none of the physicians could understand or cure the disease. And the holy bishop, Valens, taking his hair-pen, on which he used to pray, laid it on the ground, and laid the sick boy on it, and he himself prayed and praised God all night.

And it came to pass at midnight, when the voice of Hermon and all that were in the house heard him, that they were glad, for they had heard only his groaning three years; and they came to the door, and knocked, and asked the saint to open the door, that they might see Hermon.

But the saint answered that he would not open it until he had prayed his usual prayers; and they waited until morning, rejoicing at what had happened. When the day dawned, the holy bishop opened the door, and, having brought out the boy completely healthy, as if he had never been sick, he gave him to his parents. Then the teacher Craton believed in the Lord with all his household, and they were baptized, and all rejoiced in the Holy Spirit in God their Savior.

The healed young man Herimon, upon receiving baptism, did not wish to leave his physician St. Valentine; likewise, the above-mentioned three young men, after abandoning worldly wisdom after baptism, attached themselves with all diligence to the spiritual teacher of God's hierarchy and became his disciples, imitators of his holy life and seekers of their salvation.

And the other scholastics, young men and boys of their own age, being moved by their exhortation and example of an honest and chaste life, turned to the faith of Christ and holy baptism, so that many scholastics began to flock to them, who, listening to their divinely inspired teaching, learned heavenly wisdom and entered the way of truth.

But when the son of the ruler of the city, named Avundus, having believed in Christ and been baptized, was inflamed with divine jealousy, and openly professed himself to be a servant of Christ, his father and the other rulers were very angry, seized the first teacher of the Christian faith, the holy bishop Valentus, and were merciless to him; they induced him to idolatry, but he would not do them; therefore he was again tormented more fiercely and then imprisoned.

The shackles.

But the saint rejoiced that he had suffered for Christ his Lord, and, like the apostles, he was adorned with the wounds he had received as with costly ornaments, and he boasted of them, saying: <unk> I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus (Gal 6:17) and I fill up the deficiency of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh (Col 1:24).

When the tribune heard of it, he was greatly angry, and sent for him by night, and took him out of the prison, and cut off his head. And so ended his martyrdom. And Proculus, and Eusebius, and Apollonius, the disciples of the holy bishop, took his honourable body, and carried it to the city of Interramna, and bought a small piece of land, and buried it with honour. And they abode by the sepulchre for days and nights, fasting, and praying, and praising the Lord.

When some time had passed, this plot came to the notice of the procurator, who seized the young men and threw them into prison.

And when he saw that the people were troubled, and pitied them, because they all loved them, he commanded them to be put to death by night, and to execute them by day, lest the troubled people should take them away.

The aforesaid St. Avundheus, son of the Roman chief, when he came to his beloved friends and learned of their murder, was greatly distressed; having taken the honest bodies, he buried them with honor at the tomb of his teacher St. Walent, glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.