Author's Note:
This story is based on one of the legends of Valentine's Day. It focuses on St. Valentine, a Catholic Bishop who was later granted Sainthood. It isn't meant to sway you toward any religious beliefs; it is simply a fact-based story about how this holiday may have come about, including the jailer and the answered miracle he requested of the story's hero. Special thanks to MagicaPractica, Tseranc, and SEVERUSMAX. ~ Red.
Nicholas watched the young soldier lift the tiny woman into the air and he too laughed with her as she was spun in a circle. The young man's hands kept a firm grip on her tiny waist and he felt his heart swell with happiness that he had helped in making their dreams come true.
"How many is that now?" his friend and student, Matthew, asked as he too watched the couple walk back into the forest.
"Fifteen," Nicholas answered quietly and then turned to walk back into the small barn that served as his home. Matthew followed him and soon the two were sitting across from each other and enjoying a bowl of stew and hard bread. "There will be more tomorrow, and the day after."
"And the day after that. I fear that news of your acts will soon reach the Emperor's ear and then all will be lost." Matthew took a spoonful of his meal and marveled at the talents of his mentor and Bishop. They had so little and yet every evening Nicholas Valentine provided a meal that tasted rich and full of zeal. He would have made a great cook if their Lord had not called him to serve in His house instead.
"Not all will be lost. I have married many that would otherwise not find a path to Heaven, but instead one that led them down a road of sin. But you are right, many more will come and the Emperor will eventually hear of my defiance to his law. Therefore, I must ask you to leave me." Nicholas watched Matthew's eyes widen and he knew the young Priest was about to protest. He quickly lifted his hand to stop his words from pouring out.
"Brother Matthew, your work on this Earth is just beginning. There are many that will benefit from your knowledge and your love for the Lord. I am an old man. Age fills my joints and yet the Lord wants me to remain here. I feel it. I have spent hours praying for guidance and I know that you are to leave me. I am to continue on my own. The end is near for this old man, but for you... there is a whole life ahead. If you stay here, you cheat the Church and yourself. In the east there is talk of several followers without a leader. Go and guide them toward the Promised Land."
Matthew wanted to protest, but he knew it was pointless. Nicholas Valentine was a respected Bishop, one that was admired even by the more noteworthy pagans. If he "heard" the Lord speak to him, then Matthew had no choice but to listen. He knew that in the morning he would leave the man he'd come to love with the affection a man has for a blood-brother, not just a love for a fellow Believer. He would miss Nicholas, but he would go forth and spread the word of God as was his duty.
That evening, as Matthew slept, Nicholas sat outside and stared up at the stars. He remembered the day he was asked to go against Emperor Claudius II's new law. The soldier had come to him, with a girl who had just agreed to marry him, but they both knew that under the new law that their joining in matrimony would be illegal. So they came to the Church and asked to be married in the eyes of the Christian God, since they could no longer be married in the eyes of their gods. Nicholas at first turned them away and then felt the weight of the Lord's will on his shoulders. He knew that if the young couple became intimate outside of wedlock he was condemning them to Hell. He asked them to wait and then he spent an hour in prayer before finally accepting his newest role in life.
Three days passed and two more couples came to his church. He didn't hesitate to marry the young soldiers to their sweethearts. He only asked that they no longer send their friends to the church for he feared for the safety of his congregation. They agreed and took him to an abandoned barn where he began to perform secret ceremonies every few days. Over the coming weeks he learned he was called "The Friend of Lovers." His followers sometimes called him "foolish and sentimental." But, for Nicholas, he was simply doing his Lord's will, nothing more, nothing less.
He saw the logic of Claudius's law from a military standpoint. A military man he was not but he was a logical scholar. Claudius felt that young soldiers who were married made poor soldiers. He wanted their minds focused on the battle, not the wife or the children they'd been forced to leave behind. Nicholas, however, knew he could not knowingly turn anyone away from the laws of God. After the moon shifted to a lower position in the sky, he knew it was time to retire for he wanted to send Matthew off with a warm breakfast and a strong prayer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Nicholas married a dozen more couples over a course of seven days. He missed his friend's face and his humorous antics, but he had heard from a passing merchant that Matthew was leading many to Christ. Nicholas was thrilled by the news and often found himself lost in prayer, thanking God for his protection. It was during one of those prayers that sound interrupted his devotions and he jumped up from the thick moss he'd been resting on. He felt a vise wrap around his heart as he took in the Emperor's most elite guards, all of them poised and ready to let loose either their arrows, or their swords.
"Bishop Nicholas Valentine, you are under arrest for crimes against the Emperor of Rome, Claudius II. You are hereby ordered to come with us, or perish where you stand."
Nicholas said nothing, he merely picked up his worn Bible and began to walk toward the warrior that had spoken. He was pointed toward the back of the group and noticed a gray mule, speckled with white dots. It was being held by another soldier, this one smaller than the others and dressed less garishly as well. He walked over to the man and the animal, climbed on and then was surrounded by a number of burly men. If he had thought back on the situation, he would have laughed over the audacity that surrounded him. Claudius had sent his top warriors, armed to the gills and he was a simple Priest, bent on spreading the word of the Lord. Yet, to see him surrounded by so many men, it was as if he were a diabolical and seasoned warrior, not a man of the cloth.
They arrived a few hours later inside the walls of the great city. Nicholas had been there several times before and, like always, he was saddened by the pagan ways. He said a quiet prayer and then felt a new quest fill him. He closed his eyes and listened to the voice that spoke to him. It told him that this was a new church, an untouched one and it was his job to reach out to those in need. Nicholas felt a flame flicker to life and it spread throughout his system. He nodded his head, agreeing once again to be his Lord's messenger.
When they reached the city prison, Nicholas willingly dismounted and, without anger or resistance, walked into the cell that had been cleared out for him. He was shocked that he was given such a spacious room, having visited prisons before he knew that there were other cells, more archaic ones that were built into the ground and the prisoners were lowered into them with ropes. To say he wasn't thankful would have been an understatement. He was thrilled to be given a room that was normally held for Kings or Princes that were waiting to be traded or sold.
He was left there for two days. Food and water were brought to him each afternoon. On the third day Claudius himself, came to see him. They shared much as far as their beliefs and convictions. Nicholas tried to convert the Emperor to his way of thinking about the marriages and vice versa. Over time though, the meetings between them ended and Nicholas was left to entertain himself.
He became good friends with Asterius, his jailer and their friendship helped to heal his loneliness. One day, Asterius came to Nicholas and with him was his daughter Julia. He held her hand and led her to a chair that rested against the north wall of Nicholas's prison home. Nicholas had never seen Julia. He had heard of her. How could he not? Asterius spoke very highly of her. She was beyond marrying age, having celebrated her nineteenth year. Asterius however had known since she was a little girl that she would never marry, for she was not perfect. She was flawed.
Nicholas saw only her beauty and was stunned when Asterius physically shook his shoulder. He shook his head and blushed, then apologized to his friend.
"I am sorry, Asterius. I am just overwhelmed by the honor of meeting your daughter." His gaze moved back to the young woman who toyed with the folds of her toga.
