He was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate . St Valentine ’ s Day has various traditions , Chaucer suggests this was the day birds chose their mates , but it may have been a Christian takeover of the Roman feast of Lupercalia . Some Relics were exhumed in 1836 and identified as St Valentine ’ s , the casket was taken to Dublin .
‘ Alleged relics ’ also lie in France , in Vienna , in Malta and in the Blessed John Duns Scotus Church in the Gorbals in Glasgow .
18 February St Colman ( born ca 605 , died 18 February 675 )
He came from Western Ireland to Iona and became a disciple of St Columba , was a contemporary of St Aidan and St Finan , and at St Finan ’ s death in 661 he became the third abbot and bishop of Lindisfarne . He was there only for 3 years , because his time there is memorable for intense controversy in the Celtic Church , concerning the calculation of Easter dates and the wearing of the tonsure . At the Synod of Whitby , he defended the Celtic Church and resigned in protest of the King ’ s decision to follow the Roman way . He went back to Iona and subsequently to Ireland , founding the monasteries of Inishbofin and Mayo . He died and was buried at Inishbofin .
23 February St Milburga , Abbess of Wenloch in Shropshire ( died 23 February 727 )
She was the granddaughter of King Penda of Mercia who killed St Oswald , she also was the daughter of a king and sister of St Mildred . Educated in France , she became a nun at Wenloch under a French abbess and succeeded her . Several miracles of hers are recorded that happened during her lifetime .
She had healing powers and restored the sight of the blind , she also is said to have raised a young boy from the dead .
She was credited with having power over the birds and after her death was invoked for the protection of the crops against their ravages .
She organised the evangelisation and pastoral care of South Shropshire .
The nunnery at Wenloch was destroyed by the Danes , but later rebuilt by Cluniac monks . St Milburga is a patron saint of Paisley Abbey .
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