playing into apocrypha's hands

[squeequeg]

I tried looking up the origins of Valentine's Day and ran across something interesting. According to one account*, Valentine was a Christian during the reign of Emperor Claudius. To increase the size of his armies, Claudius instituted a law forbidding men younger than 30 to marry (the idea being that unattached men would go to the army). In defiance of the law, Valentine performed secret marriages for young men until he was found out and beheaded.

It got me thinking. In honor of St. Valentine, let's celebrate all those couples whose marriages are currently prohibited by the government. May their unions outlast the bigotry of others, may their love show the world there is nothing to fear, and may those of us outside their relationships work as Valentine did to support and aid them.

And come on up to Massachusetts sometime.



*This is from the incredibly reliable source of "some guy on the web," so take it with a whole shaker full of salt. But it makes for a good story.

Comments

[stealthmuffin.livejournal.com]

It's interesting to contrast this with heresies such as the Cathars, who held that this world was so sinful that procreation -- bringing some poor new soul into this fallen world -- was the worst act imaginable. To that end they swore utter celibacy. The church wisely looked askance at this, and it's interesting to read some of the texts against Cathars from the time.

It's also hard to argue with that medieval pamplet...marriage often did mean a loss of freedom for women of the time, and taking the vows could be seen as an act of autonomy in some ways. Limited autonomy, of course, but it still made a woman free of a man's direct authority.

In any case, I think the strain of Catholicism you mention above has always been in tension with the non-dualist aspect of Christianity, with the advocates of virginity at all costs sometimes gaining the upper hand and the more practical side ("Better to marry than to burn") sometimes resurging.