Ivy League Credentials Used to Mean Something Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth bars military officers from Ivy League programs — here’s why he’s right.
by
On February 27, 2026, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth signed an order barring U.S. military officers from attending professional education programs at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Brown, Princeton, and MIT, among others, beginning in the 2026–27 academic year. His reasoning was direct — these institutions have become hostile to the values, mission, and culture of the American military.
The reaction from the left was immediate. Racism. Transphobia. Culture war. Political theater. Retaliation. The usual playbook.
Before accepting that framing, it is worth looking at what these schools actually did.
Hegseth didn’t arrive at this conclusion from the outside looking in. He went to Princeton. He earned his graduate degree at Harvard. He sat in those classrooms, walked those campuses, and watched how that world thinks and operates. He knows what is taught, what is rewarded, and what is quietly punished inside those walls.
When he signed that order, he wasn’t taking a political shot. He was doing what the record demanded.
And the record backs him up completely.
School by School
Columbia
The federal government froze $400 million in funding after finding the university had systematically failed to protect Jewish students. Swastikas drawn in classrooms. Formal complaints left uninvestigated for nearly two years. Columbia eventually settled — $200 million, federal oversight of its Middle East studies department, and a full overhaul of student discipline. One of the wealthiest universities on earth couldn’t bring itself to protect its own students. That is not a policy failure. That is a character failure.
Harvard
More than $2.2 billion in federal research funding frozen. President Claudine Gay was asked directly by Congress whether calling for the genocide of Jewish people violated campus policy. She couldn’t answer. She resigned shortly after — the shortest presidency in Harvard’s 386-year history — and was later found to have plagiarized portions of her own dissertation. Harvard is now in federal court fighting the freeze. They would rather litigate than lead.
Penn
$175 million in funding suspended. President Liz Magill resigned the same week as Gay, following the same congressional hearing, for the same reason. Two Ivy League presidents. One straightforward moral question. Neither could answer it.
Brown
A $510 million freeze threatened. Settled for $50 million. Brown’s administration had previously negotiated with protest encampments, promising a board vote on divesting from Israel. The board voted no. But the moment a university starts bargaining with the people shutting it down, it has already told you who is really in charge.
Yale
The ADL gave Yale a D on its 2025 Campus Antisemitism Report Card. The Department of Education opened two separate federal investigations for failing to protect Jewish students. Jewish students were physically blocked from entering campus events. Yale receives nearly $900 million annually in federal funding. All of it now sits under a cloud. They spent more energy watching what Harvard did than protecting their own students.
MIT
When the federal government offered universities a straightforward compact — merit-based admissions, free speech, no DEI — MIT’s president rejected it. MIT then sued the federal government to block funding cuts. When pressed on a DEI nonprofit under federal investigation, they cut ties only after being forced into the open. Brilliant institution. Wrong priorities. Every time.
The Diversity That Isn’t
These schools sell diversity as their highest virtue. It’s on every website, every banner, every commencement speech.
What they mean is representation of every identity — except the ones that built this country.
Their faculties vote for one party at rates above 95 percent. Not 51 percent. Not 60 percent. 95 percent. You won’t find conservative professors. You won’t find many Christians. Anyone who thinks differently learns quickly — keep your mouth shut or find somewhere else to work.
And Jewish students? They’re leaving. Between 2023 and 2025 Jewish enrollment dropped at Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, and Penn — nearly 100 fewer Jewish students per class. One in three Jewish students on these campuses now says they censor themselves out of fear. In 1967 Columbia’s student body was 40 percent Jewish. These schools didn’t just fail their Jewish students. They drove them out.
That is not diversity. That is a closed system that costs families anywhere from $83,000 to nearly $100,000 a year — and hands you a credential at the end.
And they don’t survive on tuition alone. These institutions collect billions in federal funding every year. Taxpayer money. Working-class money. From the very people they look down on.
And for decades, that credential has flowed directly into the officer corps of the United States military.
What the Military Needs
The American military is built on people the Ivy League has never fully understood.
Young men and women who enlisted at eighteen. Families who prayed for their safe return. Communities that buried their own and kept going.
The military promotes on merit because failure costs lives.
What it needs from leaders is moral clarity, decisiveness, and a belief in the country they defend. What it does not need is officers shaped by institutions that have spent years teaching that America itself is the problem.
Thirteen service members were killed in Kabul. The Afghan government collapsed in seventy-two hours. Billions in equipment handed to the Taliban on live television. The leadership class overseeing that outcome held the finest credentials in the world.
The diplomas didn’t help.
The Bottom Line
Trump and Hegseth are not anti-education. They are anti-failure.
Institutions that couldn’t protect Jewish students, couldn’t answer basic moral questions, and have spent decades producing leaders more comfortable with ideology than strategy are not worthy partners for the United States Armed Forces.
For years, the Ivy League told working-class America that their faith was a crutch, their patriotism was naive, and their values were relics of a less enlightened time.
They were wrong.
The people carrying this country — in uniform, in factories, on job sites, in towns far from any Ivy campus — knew it all along.
Here is something worth remembering. Harvard was founded in 1636 to train clergy. Yale was founded by ten pastors. Princeton’s original seal still reads “Under God’s Power, She Flourishes.” Columbia’s first president said the school’s purpose was to teach students “to know God in Jesus Christ.” Brown was founded by Baptist churches. These were not secular institutions that happened to tolerate faith. They were built on it.
Every one of them.
They abandoned that foundation a long time ago. What replaced it was on full display when two of their presidents couldn’t tell Congress that calling for genocide is wrong.
You either stand for something or you don’t. These schools do stand for something. Just not America. Not her military. Not the Judeo-Christian values that built this country — and built them.
The families who send their sons and daughters to fight for this country never forgot where this nation came from.
The Pentagon hasn’t either.
It’s about time.
The Weekly Sam: Gavin Newsom Can’t Read. Sam Blumenfeld’s “Alpha Phonics” Can Help
In this short video, Hal Shurtleff, host of the Camp Constitution Report, discusses Gavin Newsom’s admitted illiteracy, what Sam Blumenfeld had to say about dyslexia and Sam’ solution: The use of phonics. Hal pointed out that the dismal results that we see in our nation’s government schools are the desired results as Sam proved many years ago.
A link to the archive: http://blumenfeld.campconstitution.net/
Honoring the Memory of George Washington
| Today, February 22, 2026, marks the 294th anniversary of the birth of George Washington, who, in this writer’s opinion, was the greatest man born in America. He is rightfully known as the “Father of His Country.” At his funeral, Major General Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee said that Washington was “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” Even his enemies had profound respect for him. When King George III heard that Washington planned to resign his commission and return to his farm, he said ‘If he does that ,he will be the greatest man in the world.”
While there are numerous biographies written about this great and good man, I recommend two short books and his “Farewell Address” “Washington’s 110 Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior” He wrote these 110 rules when he was 16 years old from a set of rules established by French Jesuits in 1595. Here is a sample of those rules: “When in Company, put not your Hands to any Part of the Body, not usually Discovered.” |
| “Show Nothing to your Friend that may affright him.” |
| “In the Presence of Others Sing not to yourself with a humming Noise, nor Drum with your Fingers or Feet.”
“The Bullet Proof George Washington”: An account of George Washington’s part in the July 9th, 1755, battle during the French and Indian War. During the two-hour battle, the 23-year-old Colonel Washington had ridden on the battlefield, delivering the general’s orders to other officers and troops. The officers had been a special target for the Indians. Of the eighty-six British and American officers, sixty-three were casualties. Washington was the only officer on horseback not shot down. Following the battle, Washington wrote a letter to his brother in which he readily and openly acknowledged: “By the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me!” Fifteen years later, an old, respected Indian chief sought out Washington. The chief, explaining that he had led the Indians against them in the battle fifteen years earlier, revealed to Washington what had occurred behind the scenes during the conflict: “I called to my young men and said, mark yon tall and daring warrior. Quick, let your aim be certain, and he dies. Our rifles were leveled, rifles which, but for you, knew not how to miss–’twas all in vain, a power mightier far than we shielded you. Seeing you were under the special guardianship of the Great Spirit, we immediately ceased to fire at you…I am come to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of Heaven, and who can never die in battle.”
His “Farewell Address”: Washington’s plan to retire from office would come to be known as his “Farewell Address.” In 1792, when Washington considered leaving office, he had James Madison write a draft. In 1796, Alexander Hamilton did a rewrite and Washington edited it. The “American Daily Advertiser,” a paper in Philadelphia, the seat of the nation’s capital at the time, published it on September 19, 1796. Here are a few of the points that have stood the test of time: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain, would man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness” “It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding the exercise of the power of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments into one, and thus create whatever the form of government, a real despotism” and “The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible.” May this generation of Americans endeavor to keep George Washington’s legacy alive.
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The Weekly Sam: Politicization of Public Education by Sam Blumenfeld
Our late friend and mentor Sam Blumenfeld was ahead of his time. He made this presentation in 1988
The Destino Doctrine: An Introduction Faith, family, and responsibility—the cornerstones of strong communities and a strong country. by Alex Destino, Jr
I grew up in Gloucester, Massachusetts — perhaps the most authentic working-class community in the country, where faith, family, loss, and resilience were simply part of life.
I was raised in a large Catholic family with mostly Italian roots, with a little Irish mixed in. As the youngest, I was a little bashful. My father had a larger-than-life personality, and people greeted him wherever we went. In Gloucester — and across Boston’s North Shore — everybody knew him, and they knew all of us. I spent a lot of time at his side, listening and absorbing more than I realized at the time.
I was too young to really know my grandfathers, but their lives were always part of our family story. One was a Gloucester fisherman. The other was a Gloucester police officer.
Both sets of grandparents lived above my father’s business, directly across the street from Our Lady of Good Voyage Church. From our windows, we could see the church every day. We didn’t just attend it — we lived in its shadow. It was where every baptism, every First Communion, every Confirmation, every wedding, and every funeral in our family took place.
My father took a simple idea and turned it into an iconic place in our community. Even today, when I travel and tell people I’m from Gloucester and give them my last name, the first question is often, “Are you related to Destino’s?”
I grew up watching my father run a business that drew people from every part of Gloucester. Gloucester is also a tourist destination, and in the summer the population nearly doubles. That meant we got to know people from all over — a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.
People came because they knew what they were getting — good food, fair prices, and a place where nobody put on airs.
Faith, work, and daily life weren’t separate in Gloucester. Many of our customers came straight from Mass across the street, stopping in for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. People came and went all day, sitting together, talking, and keeping up with what was happening in their lives and in the city.
Before long, it became a morning routine for local leaders as well. Mayors, city councilors, school committee members, and state representatives were regulars, sitting alongside the same people they represented.
In election years, Senator Ted Kennedy would stop in for a photo. After that, the real conversations continued without the cameras.
The talk was constant—sometimes serious, sometimes heated, often filled with laughter, always real.
As a kid, I listened more than I spoke. Over time, I developed a sense for people — who was real and who wasn’t.
In 1978, when I was twelve years old, faith stopped being something I just went along with. It became something I needed. That was the year three fishing boats from our town were lost at sea. Fourteen men were lost. Close friends of mine lost their fathers. I remember praying when one of the boats was still missing and the search hadn’t been called off yet. It was the first time I really prayed.
In Gloucester, that kind of loss was never distant. It was families you knew. People you saw every day. The same people who came into my father’s place, whose kids you went to school with and hung out with. It brought me closer to my own father and made me realize how fortunate I was to still have him. Most kids my age weren’t thinking about faith. But that year, I started to see why it mattered. When something like that happens, you either turn away or you lean in. I leaned in.
Just last month, with the loss of the Lily Jean and all seven members of her crew, I saw the same thing again — the same grief, the same faith, the same community coming together the way it always has. Moments like this have a way of bringing people back — young and old — to what truly matters. We’ve seen it here in Gloucester. I believe we’re seeing it in many places right now.
Growing up here, those experiences stay with you. Having to lean on your faith in those valleys toughens you and prepares you for what comes next.
I was an athlete in high school and college, which taught me discipline, teamwork, and how to compete. Later, I built a career working with people and relationships, and I was fortunate to learn from great coaches, mentors, and professors who shaped the way I lead today.
My wife and I raised our three children here in Gloucester. We’re proud of all of them. They grew up around the same faith, families, and community that shaped me.
Growing up in Gloucester, you don’t just hear about class and culture—you see it every day. It’s one of the most economically diverse communities you’ll find anywhere.
I saw people who carried real responsibility alongside the so-called elite and credentialed class, many of whom believed their education or status gave them a better understanding of the world. Too often, they underestimated the people who actually keep communities running.
Those experiences shaped how I think about leadership, responsibility, and what truly matters. Over time, they formed what I now call The Destino Doctrine.
This is where I’ll write about faith, leadership, family, community, and the cultural and spiritual challenges facing our country — not from theory, but from lived experience.
My hope is that these reflections encourage people, wherever they are, to lead with courage, take responsibility for the people in their lives, and strengthen the communities around them. If that resonates with you, I hope you’ll follow along. The lessons I learned in Gloucester aren’t unique. They are the same lessons that built this country, and we need them now more than ever.
‘Lives of the Signers” a reprint of a 1848 Classic Back in Stock at Camp Constitution’s On-Line Shop
Help celebrate our 250th Anniversary by learning about the men who risked their lives and signed the Declaration of Independence by learning about them and helping other to learn about them. And, one of the best ways to do that is by reading Lives of the Signers a reprint of an 1848 classic B. J. Lossing. This is a 384 page paperback. The cost is $20. which includes shipping and handling.
A link to order the book: https://campconstitution.net/product/lives-of-the-signers/
A Republic Requires Courage John Adams, moral courage, and why renewal begins in our communities. by Alex Destino
Today is Presidents’ Day. One of Massachusetts’ own, Founding Father John Adams—the principal author of the Massachusetts Constitution and later our first Vice President and second President—warned in 1798:
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
For decades, we’ve watched this country slowly lose its moral footing. This cultural and moral collapse didn’t happen overnight. It seeped into many of our institutions—our universities, public schools, city halls, libraries, corporate America, and even local chambers of commerce.
Sadly, in many cases it has also reached our churches. Some have drifted to become more like the world around them, losing focus on their mission to preach and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When that happens, they are no longer churches—only buildings.
Freedom only works when people can govern themselves. And self-government begins in the heart. That means faith. It means repentance. It means turning back to God.
This isn’t just a national issue. It plays out in every community. I see it here at home on Cape Ann, and many of you see it where you live.
When I was growing up, we had two strong Catholic schools in our community—St. Ann’s and St. Mel’s—both first through eighth grade, packed with students and families deeply connected to their faith. These schools were not just places of learning. They were pillars of our community. They strengthened the moral foundation of generations of children through faith, discipline, and religious education, while also supporting and sustaining the local Catholic Church and parish life.
Today, both are gone, and they are missed deeply. As those institutions disappeared, much of that shared foundation weakened. Many families were left with fewer choices, and increasing numbers of children were pushed into government-run education, which in many places has continued to decline in quality and performance.
St. Peter’s Catholic Church in East Gloucester closed more than 20 years ago and has since been converted into condos. When I was growing up, it was a vibrant, healthy parish filled with families and deeply connected to the life of the community.
These changes did not happen overnight. They unfolded over years. This cultural and spiritual drift is not new. It has been building quietly for decades.
These battles don’t start in Washington. They start locally—in our homes, our churches, and our schools. The alarm is sounding. More people are waking up. The question is simple: Can we recover?
Yes—but only if we turn back to God first.
“If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven… and I will heal their land.”
— 2 Chronicles 7:14
For decades, people of faith were told it’s not polite to talk about faith or politics. You’ve heard that your whole life, haven’t you? That advice is certainly not biblical. It encouraged silence at a time when truth needed to be spoken.
But the culture kept moving. While many were trying to be polite, the foundations of our country were being reshaped.
We cannot afford that silence any longer.
Jesus spoke directly to this:
“Whoever acknowledges Me before others, I will also acknowledge before My Father in heaven. But whoever denies Me before others, I will deny before My Father in heaven.”
— Matthew 10:32–33
This is the calling of every believer—to go, to speak, and not to stay silent. It isn’t about being loud or political. It’s about being faithful.
We are called to go into the world and share the Gospel—to speak the truth with love and courage. Because to truly love someone is to be honest with them, not to mislead or stay silent when the truth matters most.
When even a few people are willing to stand, others find the strength to do the same. Courage spreads.
Renewal begins in our communities. It begins with each of us.
Godspeed.
Alexander J Destino, Jr
Gloucester native. Husband and father. Writing plainly about faith, family, America, and the cultural battles shaping our future. For my community and anyone who cares about the truth.
THE ORIGIN OF THE RESOLUTE DESK
THE ORIGIN OF THE
RESOLUTE DESK
In 1852, the HMS Resolute was one of
five ships belonging to the British Royal 
Navy sent to the Arctic Circle to search
for the missing Franklin Expedition, lost
while on a mission to search for a North
west Passage. The Resolute was equipped
with an ironclad bow to help make a path
through the ice. On arrival, four ships
sailed farther into the Circle while the
Northstar stayed back as a supply ship.
The attempt to locate the expedition was
unsuccessful. The Resolute became ice
bound. The Commander made the deci
sion to desert the ship. The men walked
miles back to the Northstar in the cold
and snow to reach the safety of the
Northstar. Upon arriving in England, the
Commander was court marshalled.
The Resolute broke loose and drifted
1000 miles before it was found by an
American whaling ship, the George Hen
ry, captained by James Buddington. Real
izing its’ value as salvage, the men righted
the ship and brought it back to New Lon
don, CT.
At the time, relations between Britain
and the U.S. were very tense. President
Pierce was ready to go to war for a third
time over fishing rights, a border dispute
between British Columbia and the Wash
ington Territory, and the British presence
in South America. Britain’s First Lord of
the Admiralty also felt war was a possibil
ity over these disputes.
In 1856, at the suggestion of philanthro
pist, Henry Grennell, Congress passed a
bill signed by President Pierce to buy the
ship for $40,000. It was restored, refitted,
HMS Resolute and HMS Trepid
Drawn by George F. Mc Dougall,
Sailing master of the Resolute
and returned to England as a good
will gift to calm the tensions between
the two countries.
It arrived in Portsmouth, England
on December 12, 1856. Queen Victo
ria and Prince Albert accepted the gift
presented by Captain Henry
Hartstene at Cowes Harbour, Isle of
Wight.
The Resolute served in the Royal
Navy for 23 years as a supply ship and
was decommissioned in 1879. Upon
the order of Queen Victoria the sal
vaged wood was used to make three
desks. Designs were submitted. A
partners desk was chosen to gift the
President of the United States. Two
smaller writing desks remained in
England to be used by the Queen.
The desk was presented to president
Hayes and was known as the Hayes
desk or the Resolute desk.
Copies of various qualities have
been made for display at presidential
libraries and museums.
Research, Wikipedia and Beatrix
Cochrane
The above article was in the Pierce Brigade February Newsletter
Saint Valentine’s Day Origins – American Minute with Bill Federer
Origin of Saint Valentine’s Day
The origin of Saint Valentine’s Day goes back to the early Christian history of Roman persecutions.
Today, at a time when many governments are increasing persecution of Christians, it is important to remember that the Church was born into a one-world anti-Christian government – the Roman Empire.
In the Book of Acts 1:8, Jesus told His disciples:
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
According to Easton’s Bible Dictionary, the word for “witness” in Greek is “martus,” which is the root word for “martyr.”
Eleven of the twelve apostles were martyred, with John boiled in a pot of oil but miraculously surviving and banished to the Island of Patmos.
During the first three centuries of Christianity, there were ten major persecutions, along with innumerable smaller ones.
Initially, Romans persecuted Jews and Christians together. Christians met in catacombs, which were caves carved underground, for their church meetings, and risked their lives every time they gathered together.
Government agents shut down churches, arrested pastors, sentenced believers to death, even throwing them to the lions in the Colosseum.
64-68 A.D.: Emperor Nero blamed fire in Rome on Christians and began first persecution; 69-79 A.D.:
Emperors Vespasian and Titus persecuted Christians, in addition to destroying the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem;
89-96 A.D.: The persecution under Emperor Domitian included boiling the Apostle John in oil then banishing him to Patmos, in addition to hunting down and killing descendants of David;
108-117 A.D.: The persecution under Emperor Trajan;
117-138 A.D.: The persecution under Emperor Hadrian crushed the Jewish Bar Kokbah Revolt and renamed the Roman province of Judea to Syria Palaestina;
161-180 A.D.: The persecution under Emperor Marcus Aurelius killed Polycarp, the disciple of John;
192-211 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Septimius Severus;
235-238 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Maximinus the Thracian;
249-251 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Decius;
253-260 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Valerian;
268-270 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Claudius II Gothicus, during which Saint Valentine was reportedly martyred;
274-285 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Aurelian;
285-305 A.D.: Persecution under Emperor Diocletian, considered the worst of them all, decimating the entire Roman Theban Legion, which had become Christian, in addition to imprisoning Saint Nicholas;
305-313 A.D.: Finally, the persecution under Emperor Galerius.
Roman soldiers raided meetings and arrested believers, dragging them before corrupt judges, and also confiscated and destroyed Christian writings, scriptures and church records.
As a result of this, records of the life of Saint Valentine are scant.
What little is known is from the works like Eusebius of Caesarea, and the Martyrologium Hieronymianum – Martyrology of Jerome, compiled around 460-544 A.D.
Passio Marii et Marthae, published in the 5th or 6th century includes a story of the martyrdom of Saint Valentine of Rome.
Saint Valentine is mentioned in Legenda Sanctorum by Jacobus de Voragine in 1260 and in the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493.
Though several individuals may have had that name, it appears Saint Valentine was either a priest in Rome or a bishop in Terni, central Italy.
In the third century after Christ, the Roman Empire was being invaded by Goths.
Claudius II defeated the Goths at the Battle of Naissus, 268-269 A.D., driving them across the Danube River, gaining him the additional name “Gothicus, meaning conqueror of the Goths.
At the same time, the Plague of Cyprian, c. 270 A.D., probably smallpox, broke out killing at its height 5,000 people a day.
So many died that the Roman army was depleted of soldiers.
Emperor Claudius II Gothicus needed more soldiers to fight the invading Goths.
He believed that men fought better if they were not married, so he banned traditional marriage in the military.
Valentine risked the Emperor’s wrath by standing up for traditional marriage, secretly marrying soldiers to their brides.
Rome was also being torn from internal rivalries which continued since the assassination of the previous Emperor Gallienus in 268 A.D.
Claudius quelled political tensions by requesting the Roman Senate deify Emperor Gallienus, so he would be worshiped along with the other Roman gods.
Government mandates were issued forcing citizens to worship them by placing a pinch of incense on a fire before their statues.
It was a simple act, and some Christians caved, but since it clearly “an act of worship,” others chose rather to die in the Colosseum before they would worship anything other than the one true God.
Those who refused worship of the Roman gods were considered “politically incorrect” or “unpatriotic” enemies of the state.
They were cancelled and killed. Emperor Deccan’s persecution, 250-251 A.D., intentionally targeted Christians by issuing government mandates and executive orders forcing them to deny their consciences or die.
An example of persecution was Roman Governor Pliny the Younger, who wrote to Emperor Trajan, 111 A.D.:
“I ask them if they are Christians. If they admit it, I repeat the question … threatening capital punishment; if they persist, I sentence them to death.”
Emperor Trajan replied, 112 A.D.:
“If anyone denies that he is a Christian and actually proves it by worshiping our gods, he shall be pardoned as a result of his recantation.”
A pietist movement began of withdrawal from the corrupt society, with some believers living in caves as hermits or joining monasteries.
When Claudius II Gothicus demanded that Christians worship pagan idols and statues of deified Emperors, Saint Valentine refused.
The name Valentine is derived from the word “valor,” which means, strength of mind or spirit that enables a person to encounter danger with firmness and personal bravery.
Venerable Bede’s Martyrology, compiled in the 8th century, described St. Valentine being arrested and interrogated by Claudius II Gothicus.
Claudius was impressed with Valentine and tried to convert him to paganism to save his life.
Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead.
Because of this, Claudius was offended.
Valentine was arrested and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to die.
While awaiting execution, he preached to guards and other prisoners.
His jailer, Asterius, asked Saint Valentine to pray for his blind daughter.
When she miraculously regained her sight, the jailer converted and was baptized, along with his entire family.
Right before his execution, Saint Valentine wrote a note to the jailer’s daughter, encouraging her in the faith, signing it, “from your Valentine.”
Saint Valentine was beaten with clubs and stones, and when that failed to kill him, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate on FEBRUARY 14, 269 A.D.
I Timothy 4:8: “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
I John 4:18 “Perfect love casteth out fear.”
In 496 A.D., Pope Gelasius is credited with designating FEBRUARY 14th as “Saint Valentine’s Day.”
The 8th-century Gelasian Sacramentary recorded the celebration of the Feast of Saint Valentine on February 14.
How did St. Valentine’s Day get associated with love?
In the High Middle Ages, circa 1393, Geoffrey Chaucer, called the father of English literature, wrote a poem called Parliament of Foules – Assembly of Fowls, or Birds. “Fowl” is an old word for “bird.”
It it he described how many bird species birds, chose their mates in mid-February:
“For this was Saint Valentine’s day, when every bird of every kind that men can imagine comes to this place to choose his mate.”
Chaucer made another mention in the final chapter of The Cantebury Tales:
“The book of the Duchesse; the book of Seint Valentynes day of the Parlement of Briddes – Birds.”
The association of birds with fidelity in marital love came about because the majority of bird species are believed to be monogamous.
Many bird species are considered to mate for life, such as varieties of:
Swans, Geese, Ravens, Cranes, Blue Jays, Owls, Hawks, Woodpeckers, Ospreys, Raptors, Puffins, Pigeons, Dove, Penquins, and Bald Eagles.
After elaborate courtships, depending on the species, these birds remain together until one partner dies.
Birds that mate for life often take turns sitting on the eggs, females at night and males during the day.
They have offspring that require more extensive care and instruction from parents.
These species mate earlier in the season which allows their young more time to develop before the fall and winter seasons of long migrations or harsh winter weather.
After Chaucer’s poems, more references appeared in literature associating Saint Valentine’s Day with courtly love.
William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1600, Act IV, Scene I:
“Good morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past.
Begin these woodbirds but to couple now?”
John Donne wrote in Marriage Song, 1613:
“HAIL Bishop Valentine, whose day this is;
All the air is thy diocese,
And all the chirping choristers
And other birds are thy parishioners
Thou marriest every year
The lyric lark, and the grave whispering dove,
The sparrow that neglects his life for love …
This day more cheerfully than ever shine;
This day, which might enflame thyself, old Valentine.
Till now, thou warmd’st with multiplying loves
Two larks, two sparrows, or two doves …
Whose love and courage never shall decline,
But make the whole year through, thy day, O Valentine.”
In Hamlet, 1623, Act IV, Scene 5, Shakespeare had the maddened Ophelia sing a ballad:
“Tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s day,
All in the morning bedtime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.”
This eventually developed into the 18th-century English traditions of presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending St. Valentine’s Day greeting cards.
People often sign Valentine cards with X’s and O’s.
Where did this come from?
To answer this, we must go back to Rome.
Remember Emperor Diocletian’s terrible persecution.
Believers prayed and Diocletian was struck with an intestinal disease so painful he abdicated the throne on May 1, 305 A.D.
The next Emperor, Gallerius, continued the persecution and was also struck with an intestinal disease, dying in 311 A.D.
Four Roman generals fought it out as to who would be the next emperor.
Two were defeated and it came down to Constantine and Maxentius and the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 A.D.
Reportedly, the day before the battle, Constantine saw the sign of Christ in the sky, put it on his shields and banners, and won the battle.
Afterwards he stopped the persecution of Christians.
What was the sign of Christ?
It is said to be the first two letters of the Greek name for Christ.
Just like we often abbreviate states with the first two letters, Greek abbreviated names with the first two letters.
The Greek name for Christ Xριστό begins with the first letter which makes the “ks” sound.
It is written as an “X” and is called “Chi.”
The second letter, that makes the “er” sound is written as a “P” and is called “rho.”
These two letters were called the “Chi-Rho.”
Over the centuries, it got shortened just to the Chi or X.
“X” became a common abbreviation for the name Christ.
This is why Christ-mas is abbreviated as X-mas.
In Medieval times, the “X” was called the Christ’s Cross, or “Criss-Cross.”
In colonial America, young students were taught the alphabet, but before it was an “X.”
Children would begin their recitation of the alphabet with the saying, May Christ’s cross grant me speed – or success.
It reminded students that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
One of the colonial school books had the rhyme:
“Mortals ne’er shall know —
More than contained of old the Chris’-cross row.”
The Christ’s Cross was a form of a written oath.
This came down to us as, “put your X here”; or “sign at the X,” or saying, “I swear, cross my heart.”
Similar to the ancient practice of swearing upon a Bible, saying “so help me God,” then kissing the Bible, people would sign a document with or next to the Christ’s Cross to swear before God they would keep the agreement, then kiss it to show sincerity.
This is the origin of signing a Valentine’s card with an “X” to express a pledge before God to be faithful, and an “O” to seal the pledge with a kiss of sincerity.
History is intertwined with Valentine’s references:
On February 14, 1688, William and Mary were placed by Parliament on the English throne.
On February 14, 1778, John Paul Jones, sailing the USS Ranger, was given a nine-gun salute by French Admiral Lamotte-Picquet.
This was the first time the Stars and Stripes flag was formally recognized by a foreign nation.
On February 14, 1779, British Captain James Cook is killed in Hawaii.
On February 14, 1817, Frederick Douglass, the Republican advisor to President Lincoln, was born a slave on a southern Democrat plantation.
He was separated from his mother as a child and only remembers that his mother would call him, “my little Valentine,” leading him to assume he was born on Valentine’s Day.
On February 14, 1844, John C. Fremont was the first explorer to discover Lake Tahoe. He later became the first Republican candidate for President.
On February 14, 1859, Oregon became a state.
On February 14, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell applied for a patent for the telephone.
On February 14, 1884, Theodore Roosevelt’s wife and mother died on Valentine’s Day.
Depressed, he dropped out of New York politics, left his infant daughter with his sister, and went off to ranch in the Dakotas. He later came back to New York, took his daughter back, remarried and had five more children, then ran for President.
On February 14, 1912, Arizona became a state.
On February 14, 1929, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre took place in Chicago during the Prohibition era as Al Capone’s Chicago hitmen dressed as police took out seven members of Bugs Moran’s Irish gang.
On February 14, 1949, the first Jewish Knesset meeting was held, with Israel’s first President Chaim Weizmann.
Since the Roman persecutions, Christianity has become the most persecuted faith in the world, with over 300 being martyred each day, or one every five minutes, mostly in communist and fundamentalist Islamic countries.
The Center for Studies on New Religions reported that in 2016, 90,000 Christians killed, 30 percent by sharia Islamic terrorists.
Several organizations keep track of this, such as the Persecution Project, Voice of the Martyrs, Christian Solidarity International, Equipping the Persecuted, and SavethePersecutedChristians.org
Saint Valentine’s love for Christ and his loving example of heroic valor still inspires believers to follow the scriptures:
“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:44
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:35
“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” I John 4:10
“We love him, because he first loved us.” I John 4:19
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
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American Minute is a registered trademark of William J. Federer. Permission granted to forward, reprint, or duplicate.
Was Mr. Rodgers A Right-Wing Extremist?
Thanks to our friend Vince Ellison, I recently became aware of the song “Everybody’s Fancy” written and performed by the late Fred Rogers who hosted “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.” In this song, Mr. Rogers explains that only girls can become mothers and only boys can become fathers.
Here are the lyrics:
Everybody’s Fancy
Written by Fred Rogers
Some are fancy on the outside.
Some are fancy on the inside.
Everybody’s fancy.
Everybody’s fine.
Your body’s fancy and so is mine.
Boys are boys from the beginning.
Girls are girls right from the start.
Everybody’s fancy.
Everybody’s fine.
Your body’s fancy and so is mine.
Only girls can be the mommies.
Only boys can be the daddies.
Everybody’s fancy.
Everybody’s fine.
Your body’s fancy and so is mine.
I think you’re a special person
And I like your ins and outsides.
Everybody’s fancy.
Everybody’s fine.
Your body’s fancy and so is mine.
No. Mr. Rogers was not a right-wing extremist. He was a registered Republican who was considered a political moderate. If he were alive today and sang this song on the air, the Cultural Marxists, Big Pharma, and its controlled media would demand that he and his show be cancelled and all that ever supported him publicly denounce him as an evil transphobe. But his message would be embraced by the millions of Americans who reject the madness promoted by the enemies of the United States.
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made” Psalms 139:14