Editing Saint Valentine (section)

==Namesake churches==
[[Image:St-Valentine-Kneeling-In-Supplication.jpg|thumb|224px|''St Valentine Kneeling in Supplication'' ([[David Teniers III]], 1600s) – Valentine kneels to receive a [[rosary]] from the [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Virgin Mary]].]]

There are many churches [[Dedication (ritual)|dedicated]] to Saint Valentine in countries such as Italy. Saint Valentine was venerated no more than other [[Christian martyr]]s and saints.<ref>Henry Ansgar Kelly, in ''Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine''. 1986, p. 62, says: ''As Thurston has noted, no English church is known to have been dedicated to St. Valentine'' (Thurston, Butler's Lives, 2:217). '' I should add that we have no record of a large number of churches in England.''</ref>

A 5th- or 6th-century work called ''Passio Marii et Marthae'' made up a legend about Saint Valentine's Basilica being dedicated to Saint Valentine in Rome. A later ''Passio'' repeated the legend and added the adornment that [[Pope Julius I]] (357–352) had built the ancient basilica ''S. Valentini extra Portam'' on top of his sepulchre, in the Via Flaminia.<ref name="ansgar49"/> This church was really named after a 4th-century tribune called Valentino, who donated the land on which it is built.<ref name="ansgar49">Ansgar, 1986, pp. 49–50</ref> It hosted the martyr's relics until the 13th century, when they were transferred to [[Santa Prassede]], and the ancient basilica decayed.<ref name="hulsen">Christian Hülsen, ''Chiese di Roma nel Medio Evo'' (Florence: Olschki, ([https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/I/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/churches/_Texts/Huelsen/HUECHI*/2/TZ.html On-line text]).</ref>

Saint Valentine's Church in Rome, built in 1960 for the needs of the [[Olympic Village]], continues as a modern, well-visited parish church.