A Saint, A President & A Massacre
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This article will discuss three significant days in a three-week period. There are two holidays in the month of February that may not have much in common, but certainly have significance. The first, February 14, is Valentine’s Day. The second, celebrated on the third Monday in February, is President’s Day. Finally, the third is March 5, which is the 250th Anniversary (2020) of the Boston Massacre (Boston massacre site: The Freedom Trail, 2018).
Valentine’s Day gets its name and traditions from a third century priest from Rome. Most of Valentine’s life is a mystery. It is possible that the name Valentine may be that of two or three men with that name who were in or around Rome in the third and fourth centuries (Catholic Online, 2020).
On President’s Day, we remember those Presidents who made a significant impact on the United States. This article will focus on a well-known founder and revolutionary who became the second President of the United States. However, his presidency became somewhat overlooked due to his following of George Washington and his failure at re-election after one term.
The focus of Adams in this article will be his involvement in the aftermath of the Boston Massacre, in which British soldiers opened fire on American colonists, killing five (Boston massacre site: The Freedom Trail, 2018).
Saint Valentine
Like Adams, Valentine was a revolutionary. He lived during a time when Paganism was the “state” religion of Rome and most Christian practices happened in secret.
During the short reign of Emperor Claudius II Gothicus in the mid-third century and following the discovery of Valentine’s Christian activities, Claudius brought Valentine before him to explain Valentine’s religion and “the truth.” In the inquiry of Claudius to Valentine, the Roman priest in his answers tried to convince the Emperor to convert to Christianity by speaking of Jesus Christ, his followers, and the many signs or miracles associated with Christian belief. While Claudius listened, was intrigued and while Valentine could have persuaded him, many of Claudius’ advisors persuaded him in the other direction (Pearse, 2019).
As an aside, perhaps this discourse between Claudius and Valentine was instrumental in putting the wheels in…
