The Death of Saint Valentine at Milvian Bridge
The most popular martyrology associated with Saint Valentine was that he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire. During his imprisonment, he is said to have healed the daughter of his jailer Asterius. Legend states that before his execution he wrote “from your Valentine” as a farewell to her.
He reportedly died on February 14th (year uncertain) on the Via Flaminia near the Milvian Bridge (aka Ponte Milvio) which spans the Tiber River in northern Rome. According to the official biography of the Diocese of Terni, the year of his death is 273 AD.
The feast of St. Valentine of February 14th was first established in 496 AD by Pope Gelasius I, who included Valentine among all those “whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God”. As Gelasius implies, nothing was yet known to him about Valentine’s life.
On another note, there was an important battle fought at the bridge in 312 by the Emperor Constantine I (Constantine the Great) and Maxentius. You can read about it here.
