By Katherine Marshall, G20 Interfaith Forum Vice President
– – –
As Valentine’s chocolates and roses give way at CVS and Safeway for green shamrocks, St. Patrick, and Easter eggs, some fascinating history and legends around February 14th, the “feast of love” came to mind. The memories traced a two decade path of history and legend linking love, peace, and development with ancient and modern spiritual inspiration.
In 2005, I prepared notes for James D. Wolfensohn, as President of the World Bank (I was an advisor) for a forthcoming trip. He was to receive the San Valentino Award for his humanitarian work for peace and harmony (alongside the lay Catholic Community of Sant’Egidio) in Terni, Italy. That exercise led me both to the story of Saint Valentine and the prize.
Why San Valentino? Wolfensohn was headed for Terni, Italy, on February 14, so there was a link both to the legendary first bishop of Terni (St. Valentine) and that city’s modern Valentine’s Day celebrations. One of the three Catholic Saint Valentines was Terni’s first bishop. Murdered in 273 C.E., on the orders of the Roman prefect Placidus Furius, during persecutions ordered by the Emperor Aurelius, the citizens of Terni in 1644 proclaimed him Patron Saint of the City and of lovers. St. Valentine was associated, as Bishop of Terni, with supporting lovers, and he is said to have designated an entire day each year to blessings and flowers. He had other legendary attributes, including support for beekeepers. Terni today centers much celebration around his feast day, February 14. While modern-day romantic traditions surrounding Valentine’s Day have developed by several paths, for example bird mating patterns play a role (Chaucer contributed and birds did begin to pair half-way through the year’s second month), the path to Valentine’s Day is most closely tied to St. Valentine of Terni.
The San Valentino Award was an important recognition associated with St. Valentine, Terni’s patron saint. Instituted in 1989, for many years the award honored individuals who distinguished themselves for their commitment to peace, solidarity, unity among peoples, and fraternal coexistence. The list of recipients includes Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev, actor Peter Ustinov, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Angela Casella, the Greens, Ibrahim Rugova, President Chissano of Mozambique, and union representatives from the Terni steelworks. The San Valentino Foundation was committed to specific areas, including the fight against AIDS, and resolution of the conflict in the Middle East. Thus it was fitting that Wolfensohn was the awardee.
Vincenzo Paglia served as Bishop of the Diocese of Terni-Narni-Amelia from 2000 until 2012 and was closely associated with several of the causes the award promoted. He has supported the Community of Sant’Egidio from its foundation in the 1960s, and he and Jim Wolfensohn worked together both for peace in the Balkans and in Africa and to bring action on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Paglia, now retired as a Bishop, was engaged in conflict resolution in Kosovo, playing central roles in the agreement signed by both Milosevic and Rugova. His role was instrumental in the direction and focus of the San Valentino award. The 2005 Terni Valentine Award for Love was thus celebrated with fanfare, honoring both Jim Wolfensohn and the Community of Sant’Egidio.
More recently both Terni’s Valentine’s Day celebrations and the award have taken different shapes. Internet searches find music festivals rather than an international award focused on peace and love. After some years of discontinuity and weakened identity or organization, local personalities and institutions in Terni have recently relaunched the award with a new focus. The 2026 edition of Premio San Valentino was held on February 5-6, 2026 at Teatro Secci in Terni with a formal ceremony celebrating love as a cultural and community value. The goal is to reenergize the prize as an authentic symbol of civic unity.
– – –
Katherine Marshall is a senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University. She serves as the vice president of the G20 Interfaith Association and executive director of the World Faiths Development Dialogue. With over three decades of experience at the World Bank, Marshall has been at the forefront of addressing development issues in the world’s poorest countries, with a particular focus on the intersection of religion and global development.