Saint Valentine’s Day in Dublin City, Ireland 1983

Dubliners share their thoughts on what St Valentine’s Day means to them.
What does St Valentine’s Day mean for people out and about in Dublin city centre? For one young woman it is a day to,
Show your affection for someone.
Are Dubliners romantic? A man buying flowers on Grafton Street thinks Dubliners are romantic.
I’d say they are, but they try and keep it concealed.
The person who inspired today’s celebrations is a third century Roman saint and martyr, whose relics are preserved in a shrine in Whitefriar Street Church, Dublin.
In 1835 Carmelite priest John Spratt visited Rome. Responsible for the construction of Whitefriar Street Church, he was also a preacher of renown, and received St Valentine’s relics from Pope Gregory XVI.
As Father Peter O’Dwyer explains, Valentine’s association with spring and the tradition of sending cards to the object of one’s affection has been in existence for centuries. There are references to Valentine found in the works of Chaucer as well as French and Irish literature.
One Irish manuscript contains a poem for St Valentine’s Day which Fr O’Dwyer has translated into English,
"How pleasant sweet birdies to waken the dawn,
And sing to your true love the same bough upon,
Not so can I whisper to my darling fawn,
’Tis far from each other we wake with the dawn."
An ‘Ireland’s Eye’ report on 14 February 1983. The reporter is Mairéad McGuinness.
‘Ireland’s Eye’ was a Tuesday-to-Friday series with human-interest stories and features from locations throughout Ireland. First broadcast on 7 October 1980, the programme ran until August 1983.