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Valentine, with Strings Attached
Last February 10, 2006, my family spent the time together watching
a rare pre-Valentine concert dubbed “Strings Attached” at the
Universidad de Santa Isabel (USI) Auditorium, Naga City. The
concert featured the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Guitar
Quartet, and two superbly talented priests of the Archdiocese of
Caceres: Fr. Jeudiel Galvo and Fr. Francis Tordilla.
The priests played their guitar with dexterity to the delight of
the enthralled audience. Among the favorites played wre: Kundiman
like “Hating Gabi” by Antonio Molina and “Nassan ka Irog?” by
Nicanor Abelardo. They also played “Memory”, the theme form the
musical “Cat”, “Hello” by Leonil Ritchie, “Misty” (from the movie
The Rose), “Evergreen” sang by Barbara Streisand,, “Moonriver”,
“Killing me Softly with his Song”, and “A Lover’s Concerto”.
The Caceres Chorale provided the Intermission number and rendered
the “Pasigin” by Eudinice Palaruan, and “Bituing walang Ningning”
by Willy Cruz.
The nationally renowned UST Guitar Quartet demonstrated its
virtuoso through the “Concerto in G Major” by Antonio Vivaldi,
“Introduction and Fandango” by Luigi Boccherini, “Carmen Suite” by
Georges Bizet and arranged by William Kanengiser. The auditorium
was fully packed with a blend of mayors, judges, nuns and priests,
businessmen, teachers, students, government employees, and many
musically-inclined persons. The UST Guitar Quartet ended with
their rendition of “Pacific Coast Highway” by Andrew York, and the
“Nutcracker Suite op.71a” by Peter Ilych Tchaiskovsky which
included an Overture Miniature and the Waltz of the Flowers.
My wife and my son, who both play the guitar, were very much
inspired by the performance. We hope that there will be more
musical performances and concerts of this kind in Naga City.
***
Studies show that people around the world celebrate Valentine’s
Day on February 14 by sending cards (70%), calling their beloved
(49%), giving gifts (48%), cooking a special dinner (37%), giving
of candies (33%), going out to dinner (30%), and giving of flowers
(19%).
In fact, Valentine’s Day celebration is so commercialized and has
now turned into a huge industry. Consider the following: More than
one billion Valentine cards are sent each year. (Although
nowadays, people prefer to send ecards through the Internet since
it is faster and free). It was also estimated that 90 million
roses, mostly red, and 35 million heart-shaped chocolates are sold
and delivered on Valentine’s day.
The history of Valentine’s day, and its patron saint is shrouded
in mystery. Although it is celebrated as a lovers’ holiday today,
it originated in 3th Century Rome as a tribute to St. Valentine, a
priest during the reign of Emperor Claudius II. Let me share with
you therefore the St. Valentine Story emailed to me by my sister
Yeng today (February 14):
St. Valentine Story
Let me introduce myself. My name is Valentine. I lived in Rome
during the third century. That was long, long ago! At that time,
Rome was ruled by an emperor named Claudius. I didn’t like
Emperor Claudius, and I wasn’t the only one! A lot of people
shared my feelings.
Claudius wanted to have a big army. He expected men to volunteer
to join. Many men just did not want to fight in wars. They did
not want to leave their wives and families. As you might have
guessed, not many men signed up. This made Claudius furious. So
what happened? He had a crazy idea. He thought that if men were
not married, they would not mind joining the army. So Claudius
decided not to allow any more marriages. Young people thought his
new law was cruel. I thought it was preposterous! I certainly
wasn’t going to support that law!
Did I mention that I was a priest? One of my favourite activities
was to marry couples. Even after Emperor Claudius passed his law,
I kept on performing marriage ceremonies — secretly, of course.
It was really quite exciting. Imagine a small candlelit room with
only the bride and groom and myself. We would whisper the words
of the ceremony, listening all the while for the steps of
soldiers.
One night, we did hear footsteps. It was scary! Thank goodness
the couple I was marrying escaped in time. I was caught. (Not
quite as light on my feet as I used to be, I guess.) I was thrown
in jail and told that my punishment was death.
I tried to stay cheerful. And do you know what? Wonderful things
happened. Many young people came to the jail to visit me. They
threw flowers and notes up to my window. They wanted me to know
that they, too, believed in love.
One of these young people was the daughter of the prison guard.
Her father allowed her to visit me in the cell. Sometimes we
would sit and talk for hours. She helped me to keep my spirits
up. She agreed that I did the right thing by ignoring the Emperor
and going ahead with the secret marriages. On the day I was to
die, I left my friend a little note thanking her for her
friendship and loyalty. I signed it, “Love from your Valentine.”
I believe that note started the custom of exchanging love messages
on Valentine’s Day. It was written on the day Valentine died,
February 14, 269 A.D. Now, every year on this day, people
remember. But most importantly, they think about love and
friendship. And when they think of Emperor Claudius, they
remember how he tried to stand in the way of love, and they laugh
— because they know that love can’t be beaten!
POSTSCRIPT. After 18 years of marriage, let me once again pledge
my love to my wife Sarina Rosa, and sign it “Love from your
Valentine’.
