The Church Gives Us a Choice

15 February 2026  Sirach 15:15-20

“Before a man are life and death, good and evil, and whichever he chooses will be given to him.” (Sirach 15:17)

The Romans had a mid-February celebration called the Lupercalia. It was supposed to be a cultural celebration, celebrating Rome’s founding by Romulus and Remus, who were raised, according to tradition, by a she-wolf (that’s the lupus in Lupercalia). By the first century B.C., however, it had become wildly indecent, with men getting roaring drunk, and then running about the Palatine Hill dressed in the skins of sacrificed goats (or, it turns out, just their own skins). They would take strips of goatskin and flick women with it, the belief being that a woman flicked with the goatskin would get pregnant (not by the goatskin, but the old-fashioned way).

The Catholic tradition has an immensely rich artistic and intellectual tradition, and a younger generation of Christian intellectuals has many Millennial and Gen-Z seekers willing to give Christianity a fresh look (cf. for example Justin Brierly, The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God, 2023).

By the Christian era Lupercalia wasn’t a celebration of anything so much as intoxication and intercourse, but it was immensely popular, and even Christian emperors were at their wits’ end trying to come up with a way to tame it.

In the fifth century (roughly 494-96 A.D.) Pope Gelasius I had the idea of putting a saint’s day immediately before Lupercalia to give people a choice of celebrations. He chose to celebrate St. Valentinus, a third century martyr who, according to an obscure tradition (roughly 269-70 A.D), had been killed for performing marriages for Roman soldiers who were Christians – by the late third century Christians had come to be regarded as a security risk, especially in the army. Something similar had been done with Christmas in the fourth century, placing it adjacent to the Roman celebration of Saturnalia, and that was showing very promising results by the fifth century. Pope Gelasius thought it possible that something similar could happen with Lupercalia.

And it did. Today, both Saturnalia and Lupercalia are artifacts remembered only by nerds (like your humble correspondant). Christmas and Valentine’s Day, however, are standard features of everyone’s calendar, and are celebrated with enthusiasm.

This is not to say, of course, that people are motivated by, or even aware of the Christian meaning of these holidays – they’re probably not. It is to say only that once upon a time the Church put itself out there, gave people a choice, and because the culture of the Church was so vigorous and attractive, people made the Christian choice. There is ample evidence in our time that people are losing confidence in the secular choices about them. Atheism, once all the rage in the early 2000s, has shown itself to be intellectually sterile and culturally barren. It has produced no significant art, or music, or literature, and most of its arguments have been shown to be teleologically aimless and philosophically puerile. Leaders like Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, and Hitchens have not been able to reproduce themselves. The Catholic tradition, on the other hand, has an immensely rich artistic and intellectual tradition, and a younger generation of Christian intellectuals has many Millennial and Gen-Z seekers willing to give Christianity a fresh look (cf. for example Justin Brierly, The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God, 2023).

So, now is an excellent time to remember St. Valentine, and give secularized citizens a real choice. Now is an excellent time for Churches to put themselves out there and celebrate Christian philosophy, Christian literature, and Christian art, and energize Christian liturgy to get the attention of young people who are already inclined to look around and see what else is out there. Good News has been part of our advertising for ages. Time we showed people that we actually have some.