 Every country celebrates special days differently. In France, where I spent most of my childhood, you only give a Valentine card to your sweetheart, or to someone that you wish would become your sweetheart. I also spent 5 years in Thailand where the tradition is about the same. I was surprised when in America and saw that in schools for example, everybody gave Valentine cards to everybody, even their parents and teachers. To purposely not give one to someone can represent an act of dislike. But where does this Valentine’s Day tradition come from? History presents many stories, one dating back to a pagan festival during the time of the Roman Empire. However, the most common origin for the celebration of Valentine’s Day dates back to the 3rd century A.D. At that time, Emperor Claudius the 2nd forbade his soldiers to marry, a decision which caused low morale in his army. Valentine was a Catholic priest who performed non-government censured weddings for soldiers and other Christians. He ended losing his life for challenging the Emperor’s decree but while in jail he fell in love with his jailer’s daughter. It is strange that this Catholic priest who himself made a vow of celibacy put so much importance on marriage. I guess, while he couldn’t profit from it himself he still must have considered it an important divinely ordained institution. After all, he lost his life for that belief. It is said that on February 14th, the day of his execution, he gave the jailer’s daughter a note signed, “Your Valentine.” THE HISTORY OF VALENTINE’S DAY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8QRXkrWUjM VALENTINES TRADITIONS AROUND THE WORLD. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/10-valentines-day-traditi_n_9190888 https://www.intrepidtravel.com/adventures/unusual-valentines-day-traditions-around-world/ Patrick G. Lumbroso Chaplain Supervisor Estacada Rural Fire District No. 69 Station Phone: 503.630.7712 Cell: 503.515.2033 Fax:: 503.630.7757 www.estacadafire.org www.facebook.com/EstacadaFire To Unsubscribe from this Email: 1) Open the outlook web app: https://mail.estacadafire.org/owa 2) Log in using your EFD user name and password. Your username will need to have the domain in front of it. See the below example a. Username ex: EFD\Jdoe b. Password: This is the password you use for email or computer access 3) In the upper right corner of the screen click on the gear icon and select “Options” 4) On the left side of the screen click “Groups” 5) Double click on the “EFD Chaplain Newsletters” Group 6) Click “Leave” 7) This will remove you from receiving these newsletters
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 Every year, the Estacada chapter of the American Legion calls on me to participate in the memorial of four United State Army chaplains who died during WW2 in 1943. These four military chaplains came from different faiths. One was a Dutch Reformed, another a Methodist, the other a Catholic while another was a Jewish Rabbi. The nine hundred soldiers on board knew these chaplains to be friends not only among the chaplain themselves, but also to the soldiers. They had earned the respect and honor of the soldiers. On a fateful night, the ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat. As panic grew on board, the soldiers grabbed their life vests and gloves and the 4 chaplains helped direct the evacuation to lifeboats. When there were no more life vests available, the chaplains took off their own and gave them to the desperate soldiers. Some of the survivors later recounted the story. All they could remember was the four chaplains locking arms on the stern of the sinking ship singing and praising. Quite a sight! It took 18 minutes for this converted cruise ship to sink. The number 18 is dear to me. As is done when using Roman numerals, Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament, also uses letters to make numbers. Using that system, the number 18 spells the word “life”. In these fatal 18 minutes, some of these soldiers owed their lives to the sacrifice of these chaplains. In any case, it is an exemplary story. A chapel has been erected in their honor and Amazon movies even has a documentary about the story. Wikipedia on the 4 Chaplains: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Chaplains The Chapel of the Four Chaplains: http://www.fourchaplains.org/ The Four Chaplains: Sacrifice at Sea https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0428551/ |
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