The church in Rome where you can venerate the skull of St. Valentine

When most people think of romantic love, they probably don't think of a third-century skull crowned with flowers, nor the story behind it. But a visit to an unassuming Byzantine basilica in Rome could change that. "One of the most important relics you will find in this basilica is that of St. Valentine," said the rector of the church. Known as the patron saint of couples for his defense of Christian marriage, Valentine was martyred by beheading on February 14. He is also the inspiration behind the modern celebration of Valentine's Day. And his skull can be venerated in the minor basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin near the Circus Maximus in Rome.

The construction of Santa Maria in Cosmedin began in the eighth century, in the center of the Greek community of Rome. The basilica was built on the ruins of an ancient Roman temple. Today, in its front porch, tourists line up to put their hand inside the gaping mouth of the marble mask made famous by a scene between Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in the 1953 film "Roman Holiday". Looking for a photo shoot, most tourists do not know that a few meters from the “Bocca della Verità” is the skull of the saint of love. But Valentine's reputation as the patron saint of couples was not easily won. Known for being a priest or bishop, he lived during one of the most difficult periods of Christian persecution in the early Church.

According to most accounts, after a period of imprisonment, he was beaten and then beheaded, probably for his defiance of the emperor's ban on marrying Roman soldiers. "St. Valentino was an uncomfortable saint for them ”, Fr. Abboud said, "because he believed that family life gave support to a person". “He continued to administer the sacrament of marriage”. The relics of St. Valentine would have been discovered during an excavation in Rome in the early 1800s, although it is not clear exactly how his skull came to be in the Byzantine church where it stands today. In 1964 Pope Paul VI entrusted Santa Maria in Cosmedin to the care of the patriarch of the Melkite Greek-Catholic Church, which is part of the Byzantine rite. The basilica became the seat of the representative of the Melkite Greek Church to the pope, a role now held by Abboud, who offers the Divine Liturgy for the community every Sunday.

After the Divine Liturgy, pronounced in Italian, Greek and Arabic, Abboud likes to pray in front of the relics of St. Valentine. The priest recalled a story from Valentine's Day, in which it is said that when the saint was in prison, the guard in charge asked him to pray for the healing of his daughter, who was blind. With Valentine's Day prayers, the daughter regained her sight. “Let's say love is blind - no! Love sees and sees well, ”said Abboud. "He doesn't see how we want to see us, because when one is attracted to another person he sees something that no one else is able to see." Abboud asked people to pray for the strengthening of the sacrament of marriage in society. “We ask for the intercession of Valentine's Day, that we can truly experience moments of love, to be in love and to live our faith and the sacraments, and truly live with a deep and strong faith,” he said.