St. Francis de Sales was an innovator and sometimes his creativity was not always accepted!
One of the first acts recorded after he was first raised to the Bishopric of Geneva occurred in February 1603.
It was only the second month of his episcopate, and Bishop Francis de Sales publicly forbade the strongly entrenched custom of sending Valentines!
Why?
It appears that the custom locally had led to a good deal of impropriety and sin, because not only did the young and single have their Valentines, but the married also, (and not their spouses). This was certainly not good for maintaining harmony among married couples since the duties of escorting one’s Valentine to dances and entertainments were taken seriously.
The Bishop’s edict caused a good deal of anger, which was not assuaged by Bishop Francis’s idea of picking out a saint in the calendar as one’s spiritual Valentine for the rest of the year.
Perhaps we can be just a bit more receptive to grace and choose a heavenly patron to intercede for us this year!
(Source: Francois de Sales, by Michael de la Bedoyere, Harper and Brothers, 1960, page 104)