Valentine's Day: 5 Interesting Facts

By Michael Gryboski, Editor
Tuesday, February 14, 2017

3. Other saints celebrated

Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius, brothers who during the ninth century evangelized the Slavic populations of Eastern Europe. | (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

St. Valentine is not the only saint whose feast day falls on Feb. 14. After Valentine got removed from the Church calendar in 1969, he was replaced by St. Cyril and St. Methodius.

Cyril and Methodius were brothers who evangelized the Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe during the ninth century, receiving the title of "Apostles of the Slavs."

"Tradition tells us that the brothers Methodius and Constantine (he did not take the name Cyril until just before his death), grew up in Thessalonica as sons of a prominent Christian family," noted Catholic.org.

"Before they even left on their mission, tradition says, Constantine constructed a script for Slavonic — a script that is known today as glagolithic. Glagolithic is considered by some as the precursor of cyrillic which named after him."

Feb. 14 marks the anniversary of the death of Cyril, who passed away in Rome in 869 after becoming a monk.