St. Valentine’s Day & Loneliness: We Moderns Are Together Alone

Today is the commemoration of Saint Valentine, a celebrated martyr who, in spite of that bedazzled skull with his name on it reverently displayed at a certain basilica in Rome, may not have technically quite . . . existed. Or there might have been three of them — Roman record-keeping, once rigorous, had declined somewhat by the third century, a victim of imperial torpor, so it is difficult to say.

In any case, I do not expect Tetsushi Sakamoto to join the many pilgrims who will visit Saint Valentine’s popular shrine (which is in Dublin rather than in Rome) today, but perhaps he should. It is a beacon for the lonely, and Sakamoto is Japan’s freshly commissioned “minister of loneliness.”

About the Author

Kevin D. Williamson

Kevin D. Williamson is a former fellow at National Review Institute and a former roving correspondent for National Review.

Today is the commemoration of Saint Valentine, a celebrated martyr who, in spite of that bedazzled skull with his name on it reverently displayed at a certain basilica in Rome, may not have technically quite . . . existed. Or there might have been three of them — Roman record-keeping, once rigorous, had declined somewhat by the third century, a victim of imperial torpor, so it is difficult to say.

In any case, I do not expect Tetsushi Sakamoto to join the many pilgrims who will visit Saint Valentine’s popular shrine (which is in Dublin rather than in Rome) today, but perhaps he should. It is a beacon for the lonely, and Sakamoto is Japan’s freshly commissioned “minister of loneliness.”