Hello Travelers!

Happy Valentine’s Day! We thought that you might be interested to know that every Valentine’s Day a small church in Rome called Santa Maria in Cosmedin (also famous for housing the Mouth of Truth) displays a relic which is supposed to be St. Valentine’s head (pictured).

The origins of what we know as Valentines Day goes back to an ancient Roman festival called The Feast of Lubercus that was dedicated to the goddess of fertility and involved boys picking girls’ names by lot, thus creating a couple for the year. Probably, as is so common with many Christian holidays, the Feast of Lubercus was phased into what we know of today as Valentine’s Day.

One, of many, stories about the origins Valentine’s Day is that it is dedicated to a third century Roman priest, Valentine,  who was imprisoned for continuing to perform wedding ceremonies when the Emperor Claudius II canceled all engagements because Roman men did not want to leave their women to join the army. Apparently, while imprisoned Valentine cured a jailers daughter of blindness, so the jailer allowed Valentine to continue his wedding ceremonies. When the Emperor heard this he had Valentine clubbed to death and beheaded on Feb 14, 268. And now we have Valentine’s Day to celebrate this priest’s sacrifice so that people could get married.

Concerning the actual skull on display:

During the Middle Ages (800-1400) is when a lot of these relics started popping up, or at least became documented for the first time. It was an actual trade, profession, scam?, to dig up bodies for parts and to sell these parts (i.e. “relics”) to churches. The better the relic the more pilgrim traffic the church would get, which translated into more cash flow. No evidence of a DNA test or carbon dating test on this skull was found while researching this article. Furthermore I have no idea what that would prove or disprove other than a general time. Nevertheless, in 1968 the Vatican did state definitively that the remains under St. Peter’s Basilica were indeed the true remains of the first Pope. They made this statement based on physical descriptions, approximate age and method of execution.

Your chances of seeing the skull when you are in Rome can be hit and miss, but if you stop by Santa Maria in Cosmedin on Feb 14th make sure you stop by and pay your respects.

Happy Travels,

Related articles:

Vatican Hours Extended 

Rome: Great photo opps (includes map to find St. Valentine’s Head) 

Rome: Thieves, scams and rip-offs 

Photo Credits:

Top photo: Lawrence OP
Bottom photo: Apprille

Thank you.

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