Saint Valentine: The Patron Saint Of Bees, Fainting, And The Actual Plague

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Valentine ministered to persecuted Christians in the third century. Colored engraving, Italy, 1886. (Photo by Fototeca Gilardi/Getty Images).

Today, most of what we know about Saint Valentine is wrapped up in the holiday named for him that we celebrate on February 14, but there is much more to this ancient Roman Catholic bishop than roses, love notes, and heart-shaped chocolates. Not much is definitively known about Valentine, who lived in the third century, and many of the stories associated with him have probably been exaggerated over the years. One thing we do know for sure is that Saint Valentine was a real person with a soft spot for love and marriage that got him into trouble with the Romans.