St Valentine’s hometown strikes a balance between Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day
Terni, Italy RNS This Wednesday marked a peculiar challenge for practicing Catholics. Valentine’s Day, characterised by candlelit dinners and boxed chocolates, and Ash Wednesday, the start of Lenten privations, collided on 14th February this year, for an odd mashup of romance and abstinence. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has made it clear there will […]
StrangeSights: Valentine’s Day voting in Bali; a museum for lost relationships; and, a happy ending for matchstick Eiffel Tower…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
How ethical are your Valentine’s Day chocolates?
New York, USThomson Reuters Foundation With sales set for a Valentine’s Day boost, chocolate lovers and romantics concerned about ethical sourcing can take some heart from a new report. Leading chocolate makers have faced intense scrutiny over how they source their cocoa beans in recent years, and US-based non-profit Forest Trends said they are making […]
St Valentine’s Italian birthplace seeks US suitors
Rome, ItalyThomson Reuters Foundation In an unusual call for love, the Italian birthplace of St Valentine said on Friday it was looking for a US suitor to become its “sister city”. The mayor of Terni in central Italy said he hoped to find a city in the United States committed to a “meaningful, longstanding bond” […]
World Council of Churches invites reflections on love and violence against women for Valentine’s Day
The World Council of Churches is inviting people to share their reflections on love for Valentine’s Day – but to do so in light of the #ThursdaysinBlack movement demanding an end to violence against women. The WCC said the campaign – which comes thanks to Valentine’s Day this year falling on a Thursday – recognises […]
ESSAY: THE ‘REAL’ ST VALENTINE WAS NO PATRON OF LOVE
In an article first published on The Conversation, LISA BITEL, professor of history and religion at the University of Southern California, explores the origins of St Valentine’s Day…