St. Valentine was a Troublemaker

Cat, the missioner with youth in my area, sent me funny email. She is a funny girl. In an email, she wrote about St. Valentine: "What a punk.Being associated with New-Agey fertility festivals? Giving his blessing to non-state-sanctioned marriages? Didn’t he care about the unity of the Church?". I like her writing style;she cracks me up!

Interesting fact I learned #1: St. Valentine is not recognized as a saint by the Anglican community, but is recognized as a saint by the Catholic community.
Interesting fact(s) I learned #2: Tomorrow is also the feast day of Saints Cyril and Methodius (pictured to the left), both are recognized as saints in the Catholic and Anglican church. These guys invented the Glagolitic alphabet, which evolved into the alphabet we use today. They are the patron saints of Europe, so they must have been awesome & smart guys.

So, if you hate Valentine's Day, celebrate Saints Cyril and Methodius Day instead! Congratulate your friends and family for knowing how to read and write...partly thanks to these guys.

Here is an interesting picture from "Harper's Weekly". It was for their Valentine's issue on February 16, 1861, during the Civil War. The top has some geese, then people at the post office, I think. The middle image has a couple of girls reading a letter and it says, "In the Boudoir" under them. Then there is a cupid painting next to the two girls. At the bottom, there are two girls standing and reading with the caption "In the Kitchen". The last image is of a young man overloaded with cards that says "With a Postman". What are all the captions supposed to mean? Maybe all the places you can read your Valentine's Day mail?