Bishop Denis Nulty with engaged couple Carol Dignam and Tim Boylan standing before the shrine to St. Valentine today at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin. Photo by John McElroy for the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference.
By Irish Echo Staff
Carol and Tim will have a storied saint watching over them for the rest of their lives together.
The engaged couple today received a special St. Valentine’s blessing at the Shrine of the Holy Relics of Saint Valentine in Dublin.
Bishop Denis Nulty of Kildare and Leighlin presided at the blessing of Carol Dignam from Kilcock, County Kildare, and Tim Boylan from Foxrock, County Dublin at the shrine, which is located at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Whitefriar Street Church.
Carol works for Deloitte in Learning and Professional Education and Tim is a restaurant manager in Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin.
The couple met in Bundaberg when they were both travelling around Australia and are planning to marry in 2018.
Saint Valentine, a priest in ancient Rome, is regarded as the patron saint of couples in love, preparing for marriage and of married life.
Relics of the saint are interred in the Carmelite church.
According to tradition, Saint Valentine was martyred on February 14, 250 AD.
In 1836, relics that were exhumed from the catacombs of Saint Hippolytus on the Via Tiburtina, near Rome, were identified with Saint Valentine.
These relics were placed in a casket, donated by Pope Gregory XVI, and transported to the Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin where they continue to be venerated to this day.
And especially on this day.
According to the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference, in his document on “The Joy of Love” (Amoris Laetitia), Pope Francis refers directly to Saint Valentine’s Day as an opportunity for couples to celebrate the importance of romantic love by gifting their time and attention to one another rather than simply relying on the more commercial approaches to the saint’s say.
“This is why, as part of the preparations for World Meeting of Families in Ireland in August 2018, the World Meeting of Families 2018 are inviting individuals and couples to celebrate the Joy of Love this Saint Valentine’s Day and to mark this day in a number of special ways,” said a statement from the bishops who suggest:
- Have a technology-free evening to do an activity of your choice.
- Set aside time for prayer together as a couple.
- Go for a hand-in-hand walk together.
- Cook a special meal for your loved one.
- Share loads of tender hugs.
- Take a journey down memory lane where you can set aside some special time to remember how you met and have grown together.
