Valentine’s Day most likely has one of the highest grossing purchases of candy, second to Halloween. It’s associated with buying overpriced heart-shaped boxes of chocolates for our significant others.

Some couples that take the holiday seriously purchase jewelry and flowers, along with the chocolates. Some even venture as far as to include the chalk-like conversation hearts in their gifts.

Decorations of pink, red, and white explode in any area where people choose to decorate. Some go as bold as to include a splash or two of violet!

Besides the commercialization of romance and relationships, February 14th is connotated with Saint Valentine. We believe and are taught that the third-century saint is the patron of love.

Well, we’ve been taught part of the truth.

We’ve got only a slice of the pie. Saint Valentine is the patron saint of love, happy marriages, beekeepers, epilepsy, and the Plague.

His other affiliated patronages always make me laugh.

Valentine is charged with ensuring the sweetness of honey and protection of beekeepers. I don’t know what he’s actually supposed to do with beekeepers, but the bee population has been improving. So thanks, Valentine, maybe protecting the beekeepers helped them ensure a little safety in the bee population.

One of the alleged stories on how he became the patron of people with epilepsy is that he once cured an engaged woman of the disease. The story of him becoming associated with people affected by the Plague... well, I couldn’t find any reasoning to that tidbit.

I admire Valentine as a patron for those with epilepsy and, in an act of my own stretching, those with a severe illness.

So when you rush out to your local drug store to buy some last minute candy for your sweetheart, remember that St. Valentine wasn’t just associated with lovers. Think about the bees and their keepers, those with epilepsy, and those who suffer from an illness.

If you’re religious, maybe you’ll decide to pray to him on February 14th. If you’re any kind of spiritual, maybe you’ll take a moment to think about him.

And if you’re neither of these, appreciate the people that you love... and the beekeepers, anyway.