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St. Valentine Left His Heart in Madrid, SpainA Personal PilgrimageJeff Burdick
And if these traits weren’t enough to cement the city’s romantic reputation, Madrid also happens to be the final resting place of the father of all romantics—St. Valentine. As a 3rd century Italian bishop, Valentine earned an enduring reputation for assisting young lovers of all sorts: honeymooners in need of money, suitors lacking flowers, and bachelors penning love letters. When his bones and those of dozens of other saints were re-discovered in the 18th century, the Vatican offered them to churches in countries not as saturated with sanctified relics as Italy. Thus Valentine came to be enshrined in the Iglesia de San Antón (St. Anthony’s Church) in Madrid’s residential Chueca neighborhood. Being a not completely contented bachelor, I decided it couldn’t hurt to make a Sunday pilgrimage to the church and eke out whatever magic was left in those old bones. Located at 63 Calle de Hortaleza, the church was just a 20-minute stroll north of my hotel located near the Prado Museum.
Once in the vicinity of the church, my search was prolonged another 10 minutes as I searched among a couple blocks of unnumbered, indescript facades uncertain which could be St. Anton’s. I finally determined it to be a building completely cloaked in green construction mesh and undergoing a renovation. For a moment, I worried that it was closed or, worse, permanently shuttered. But fortunately it was open, and I entered. Inside, I found my search for St. Valentine to be nearly as tricky as my hunt outside for the church itself. I guess I expected to find a huge crypt, but the tiny church was barely large enough to contain 15 cramped rows of wooden pews. I eventually found the saint’s remains housed in a small reliquary tucked off in the church’s most dimly lit corner. A simple sign beneath it read: San Valentin, patros de los enamorados (patron of lovers). The reliquary consisted of a small wooden box with a glass front that plainly displayed St. Valentine’s skull and every other romantic bone in his body. Quite frankly, it was a macabre sight and more than a little resembled the skull-and-crossed-bones symbol for poison. Still, I chose to sit next to this tiny shrine for the duration of the 35-minute Spanish mass, but I can’t claim any immediate benefits. Later at my hotel, I did meet another American, and we dined out a couple times, shared a plate of paella, and over late-night sangria even swapped caveat emptor stories about our taxi rides from the airport. (Her taxi driver succeeded in inflating her fare by $7. I had to involve a hotel desk clerk to keep my driver from charging me double the $18 fare.) But those evenings and the rest of my week in Spain went no further than polite, intelligent conversation.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:Contact the Tourist Office of Spain at (212) 265-8822 or visit www.tourspain.es. CHURCH OF ST. ANTON’s: The church operates as a normal church and is open to visitors during Sunday morning services and an hour before confession. Address: 63 Calle de Hortaleza (near the Chueca subway stop). Green Hotel (3-stars) |
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At a mere four centuries old, Madrid is a relative
infant among European capitals. But while Madrid lacks the time-worn
romance of a Paris or Rome, few places can surpass its seductive aura.
With its coy flamenco rhythms, dark fashionable style, and lusty
dusk-to-dawn night life, it possesses an atmosphere that is best described
as a citywide pant.
I kept to the smaller streets which in the heart of
Madrid quaintly slope and veer and change names every few blocks. A
special pleasure of these narrow streets are the floor after floor of
terraced apartments. Most were filled with potted flowers and lush green
ferns that lent a lively color to the old stone facades. Some railings
belonging to dedicated Catholics were laced with long, arcing palm
branches that remain in place from Easter to Easter. On the ground level,
innumerable local tapas bars, bakeries, butcher shops, and small
restaurants tantalize every passerby.
But I won’t give up hope so fast. After all, it
took St. Valentine several centuries to be immortalized and even longer to
make it to his final resting place in Madrid. A short grace period might
be in order to let him work his magic.