hypa ANALYSIS
hypa is famous for it's global analysis which looks at issues relating to current events and helps us fill our web pages with stuff. hypa has access to sources of information from all over the world, and from out of it. Each week we look at an issue connected to our chosen topic of the week.
Who Is St. Valentine?
Before he became a saint, Randolph Valentine was not very well know outside his native country of Latvia. He had been born on 14 February 1620 into a poor family of goat herders but had left to find work elsewhere.
It is believed that he spent two years working in the cotton mills of Lithuania, and a further year serving burgers and fries in a branch of McDonald's.
But it was in late 1645 AD that Randolph's name was to become famous all over Latvia. For that was the year in which he met and fell in love with the daughter of the King of Latvia.
As he was the humble son of a goat herder, Randolph knew he would never be permitted to marry a Princess. Yet they met in secret for many months until their affair was reported in a tabloid newspaper ("Princess Does It With Goat Herder's Son").
Faced with this report, Randolph ran away to neighbouring Estonia where he opened a sportswear shop under an assumed name. He died alone in 1672. The Princess forgot all about Randolph after a couple of weeks.
Valentine would have remained an obscure part of Latvian history were it not for his elevation into Saint Valentine. This was done by Pope Willy IV (also known as "The Mad Pope") in 1694.
Willy decided who was to become a saint by randomly picking headlines from old newspapers. It just so happened that he stumbled across a copy of the Latvian Daily Snow Report from 1645 when Randolph was hitting the headlines. Reading this sad tale of sex and royalty, Pope Willy picked Randolph to become the patron saint of love. This was a niche that many popes had been looking to fill, but none had been able to find a suitable candidate until Randolph.
And that is the true tale of how Randolph the disgraced goat herder's son became St. Valentine, patron saint of love.