Historical facts

 

Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine.The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome (Valentinus presb. m. Romae) and Valentine of Terni (Valentinus ep. Interamnensis m. Romae).[6] Valentine of Romewas a priest in Rome who was martyred about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. His relics are at the Church of Saint Praxed in Rome, and at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland. Valentine of Terni became bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) about AD 197 and is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian. He is also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni (Basilica di San Valentino).

The Catholic Encyclopedia also speaks of a third saint named Valentine who was mentioned in early martyrologies under date of February 14. He was martyred in Africa with a number of companions, but nothing more is known about him.

No romantic elements are present in the original early medieval biographies of either of these martyrs. By the time a Saint Valentine became linked to romance in the 14th century, distinctions between Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni were utterly lost.

In the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints, the feastday of Saint Valentine on February 14 was removed from the General Roman Calendar and relegated to particular (local or even national) calendars for the following reason: "Though the memorial of Saint Valentine is ancient, it is left to particular calendars, since, apart from his name, nothing is known of Saint Valentine except that he was buried on the Via Flaminia on February 14." The feast day is still celebrated in Balzan (Malta) where relics of the saint are claimed to be found, and also throughout the world by Traditionalist Catholics who follow the older, pre-Second Vatican Council calendar.

Valentine's Day

Saint Valentine's Day (commonly shortened to Valentine's Day)is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentine and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 500 AD. It was deleted from the Roman calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, but its religious observance is still permitted. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

Modern Valentine's Day symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards.

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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hey guys,

Hope you all had a great Christmas! I had planned on writing a Christmas blog, but with my leaving Christmas shopping till the last minute, and also having to be working on the book right up until a few days before, I didn't get around to it. Seeing as I didn't get out a Christmas blog, I'm going to have to make this one extra good. :)

I was down in the marina the other day, don't worry, I wasn't looking for a boat, I'll make sure to let you know if that happens. But there does happen to be a shiny new red and white Open 60 sitting in the yard over in Marina del Rey and I have to say I'm a little (little is a bit of an understatement) jealous of the people who are going to be sailing her. The Open 60, O Canada, is a very different design from Wild Eyes, but none the less, I have to say that all open style boats are absolutely amazing!

O Canada just got off the ship last month and she's over here for the Transpac, of course that's not for a while so her crew won't be over here till February... maybe I could stow away on board before they leave! Well, it was quite exciting to see a boat like that in Marina del Rey. We don't often get to see boats like that around there. Alright, well enough about the boat now.

We all had a great Christmas over here. A bit smaller then previous Christmases, but a great day all the same. I'm sad to say I did not get a boat for Christmas, but there is always next year! I did, however, get a new water-proof camera, a little bit rinky dinky compared to my big 7D Cannon, but I cant wait to get it rigged up on the bow of the next boat I'm on, or get down to the beach with it.

So, now that the first manuscript is in to the publishers I have quite a bit of free time on my hands lately, a little too much in fact, enough to come up with the idea to get a bagpipe... Yep, I am proud owner of a "practice Chanter". Its what you learn to play before moving on to a real bagpipe. You may wonder how such an odd idea came about. Well, I was sitting in church one day thinking about something new I could do, something that would be fun and take up some of my free time, and the most off the wall, oddest thing I could possibly think up was learning to play the bagpipe, and so that is how it all began.

I also have some plans in the works for possibly getting into smaller boat sailing. At first I laughed at the very thought of me sailing a small boat, but as time went on the idea seemed more and more like something that could be a lot of fun. Of course, there is that ever-present problem of not having a boat, but a friend and I are working on that and are hoping to be able to get one by summer.

And so there you have the happenings of the past week of my life, definitely a bit more exciting than the week before this one! Well, hope you all have a great New Years! As Paul Wellstone said, "The future will not belong to those who sit on the sidelines. The future will not belong to the cynics. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

A new year is coming and we're all going to make New Years resolutions, and I have to say, when I think of a New Years resolution, I think more of wishes, it seems that so many people want to do things but just don't get around to it (like me writing my blog). Lets do something different this year, don't be afraid to make some big goals, and to have big dreams, but lets be the people who believe in our dreams. The people who make their future their own.

Dreams are great, but they're no good unless you're going to fight to make them come true. Happy New Year to you all!!

Yours always,

<3>

A Normal Life

Not a whole lot has happened around here lately. I'm working on school, and planning to take my driving permit test next week. Can you believe its taken this long for me to get around to going to get my permit!? I have to say that life at home isn't all that exciting. I miss sailing and wish that I still had a boat to get away every now and then.

I am working hard on my book right now. Its been a lot of fun having that to work on. Its going to be out in mid April and once the books out I'll probably be out doing a lot more public speaking and things like that which I'm really looking forward to. My first few speaking engagements were a little rough, which was to be expected as a slightly shy 16 year old just winging it. But I've done a bit of work and got a good collection of tips going from everyone around me so I'm really looking forward to getting back out and into public speaking a little more.

My baby brother, Paul-Louis (aka. Chuck, Charlie, Louie, or whatever else comes to mind, whether or not it can be related to his name at all) is five months old now. Its hard to imagine I have been home for that long, almost half a year! Watching Charlie grow up has been a good reminder of how long I have been home.

I keep thinking about what to do now. Of course I have planned on finishing high school before setting out on any new trips or adventures. But its been too long, and I've got that feeling you get as a sailor when you've been on land too long - life with all the easiness of being on land becomes uncomfortable and you feel almost trapped.

I know its not long before I'll have finished high school and I'll have found something new to stir up the lives of those around me.

Until then, I'd like to thank all you guys reading this for following my blog, and for continuing to support me. It means the world to know I've got you guys still faithfully following and supporting me!

Abby

NASA Visit

Hey Everyone,

Sorry I didn't finish up writing about my last trip sooner! Things have a been a little busy at home lately. We got out on the Chesapeake Saturday, the day after visiting NOAA, and we all had a lot of fun. There wasn't much wind, but it did pick on later on in the day. It was good to get out on the water, even if it was just in a Cal 22 for a few hours. We sailed around for four hours or so and then headed home.

Sailing on the Chesepeake

We didn't have anything planned for the next day, so we decided to go out to Patrick Henry College in Virginia and visit one of my friends that goes to school there. The campus there looked a bit like the University of Maryland, just way smaller. The college hasn't been

around all that long and it was neat to see how much its grown over the years and everything that the students there have done to help make it what it is today.

Patrick Henry College

Visiting friends at Patrick Henry College

It didn't take long to get a tour of the small campus, then we spent awhile just chatting with some of the students from there. We then headed off to get a late lunch and head back to the hotel. It was also my little brother, Toby's, birthday. So we went out to dinner later that night. They didn't have any birthday candles at the restaurant so Scott downloaded a candle app on his iPhone.

Toby's digital birthday candle

Next day was NASA. We spent the whole day there being shown all around.

I gave a short presentation to a room full of congressional staffers. The presentation

went well, even though at first the slides on the computer wouldn't work. It was a good day there, but rather then writing all about it, I'll post a bunch of pictures from that day.

Toby, the astronaut.

Search and Rescue Mission Team with David Affens, George Theodorakos and Dr. Chen

Tuesday was the day we were flying home, but we weren't flying home till later so we decided to head over to the Annapolis Yacht Club and look around down there. While we were over there we walked over to the the Naval Academy. That was a pretty cool to see. I wish we had had a little more time but it was getting late so we headed off to the airport. It had been a good, but long week and Toby and I were both looking forward to going home.

Abby

The NASA Visitor's Center

Day 2 in Washington DC

We got up early and headed over to NOAA. Visiting NOAA was great. They showed us all the records of when I activated my Epirbs and showed how right after I set them off two satellites went over me, got my position and then remembered it and passed it down to the first earth receiving station that came in their range which was in Pakistan of all places.

They gave a talk on how the satellite system works. It was great to meet all the people that worked there and I was surprised to learn how often they had signals coming in. We got to walk all through the building, go up on the roof and see where they first get in the signals and everything.

Outside the NOAA Building

After we finished at NOAA, we headed over to the air and space museum where we spent a good part of the rest of the day. It was pretty cool place; one of the few places I hadn't been to already with all the times I've been back there recently!

Toby, me Apollo 11 and an X-15

So all in all it was a good, long day. On the ride home, Scott called around and found a place to go and rent little sailboats, so we had some fun plans for the next day. We went to sleep that night hoping the wind would pick up a little bit for our sail around the Chesapeake!

Abby

Amelia Earhart's Plane

A Week In Maryland

Its been a busy past week with me back on the east coast again. I was invited by the University of Maryland to speak at a symposium on satellite technology. There

were a handful of speakers talking about the significant things being done through satellite technology. I was there to talk a bit about my trip andhow the system worked for me, putting a bit of a personal touch on rescue technology.

U of Maryland Engineering Students

We spent the day walking around the campus there. It was so big! I've seen some big college campuses, but I think that was the biggest so far. I really liked it there and while we spent most of our time with the engineering students, I wish I had time to check out their psychology program, since that's what I would like to major in. The people there were all great and even though engineering isn't one of my strong interests, I had a great time meeting the friendly people there.

The first night that we flew in I had dinner with a bunch of young women engineering students at the University. The next day we spent touring as much of the campus as we could in the few hours we had, and then set up for the symposium that was going to be later that night. I was getting a little nervous as the room started to fill up. I only had to talk for

20 minutes and I had definitely spoken in front of more people before, but I guess stage fright isn't an easy thing to get over.

Anyway, after talking for a little bit it got easier and fun, as always, and the night went pretty well.

After everyone spoke we went and had dinner with a bunch of people from the school. It really turned out great! Thanks to everybody there for showing us around!

I traveled this time with Bill Bennett and Scott Lurie from my technical team and my brother Toby, who turned 13 while we were out there. We covered a lot in the week we were there, but that's it for now, gonna save the rest of the trip for my next few blogs! :)

Abby