Cupid leads the way to a patter of tiny feet
Church offers its followers options to negotiate an Ash Wednesday full of romance and chocolates
THE romance of Valentine’s Day is indisputable – and now the NHS has confirmed there is a baby boom nine months later.
Conceptions this week will be 5 per cent higher than the rest of the year, the first analysis of such data has shown. In 2015, 16,263 babies were conceived in the week of Feb 14 and 16,344 conceived the week after. The NHS figures compare with a weekly average of 15,427 conceptions.
It means mid-february is second only to Christmas for the number of women becoming pregnant.
However, the figures also suggest such passions may take their toll – two weeks on, conceptions reach an annual low, with 14,465 a week. Sarah-jane Marsh, the chairman of the Maternity Transformation Programme at NHS England, said: “Love is most definitely in the air at this time of year and it is fantastic to learn that the NHS sees a baby boom nine months later, bringing great joy to families across the nation.”
ROMAN Catholics keen to spoil their loved ones this St Valentine’s Day face a dilemma. For the first time since 1945 it has fallen on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent and a day of fast – requirements that could leave their romantic plans in jeopardy. As a compromise, bishops suggested celebrating Valentine’s Day on Shrove Tuesday instead, although it’s not known how many took them up on the idea yesterday.
Canon 1251 states that Catholics should forgo meat and eat only one main meal, with two smaller snacks if necessary at other meal times, which must not exceed the size of the main meal. Feasting and celebrating is seen as inappropriate.
The ashes, a symbol of penance, which are often placed on a worshipper’s forehead in the shape of a cross, reflect the fact that Ash Wednesday is a sombre day.
The Bishop of Salford, the Rt Rev John Arnold, said: “People flock to Mass and to receive their ashes on Ash Wednesday, it’s one of the most powerful days in the Church’s calendar.
“This year it falls on February 14, popularly celebrated as St Valentine’s Day, a day for romantic love.
“Ash Wednesday also celebrates great love, sacrificial love, which goes to the heart of our very being.
“I would encourage Catholics to embrace that love, and wholeheartedly live this one day of penance and abstinence which marks the beginning of the powerful season of Lent.”
For those who were still planning to leave their romantic time to this evening, the Church suggests observing the day in an appropriate way by having a quiet night in.
Nina Mattiello Azadeh, from the Church’s marriage and family life office, said the day should be about “making time for people that are important to you” and “sharing quality time, rather than buying into the commercialism of it all”.
The Church suggests a series of activities that do not stray from the meaning of the day, such as going for a
‘Ash Wednesday also celebrates great love, sacrificial love, which goes to the heart of our being’
walk, spending a technology-free evening in or praying together.
“It’s a positive call to action about how you love someone and how you spend time with people,” she added.
St Valentine is not one of the main saints observed in the Catholic Church in England and Wales, but it is using the clash as an opportunity to “share the story of a saint and a martyr to the faith”.
Last year bishops in the United States provided a dispensation for Catholics so they could eat traditional corned beef and cabbage on St Patrick’s Day, which fell on the same date as Lenten Friday, another fast day, but it is thought that no such exception has been made in recent years in England and Wales.
♦ More parents and children are sending each other Valentine’s cards to cheer them up about marriage breakdowns and being single, Clinton Cards has claimed.
Sales of family Valentine’s cards are growing at a rate of around 20per cent a year according to the retailer.
It comes as the proportion of married women in England dropped below 50per cent for the first time.
Just 49.9per cent of women over the age of 16 last year had tied the knot, compared to 51.9per cent of men, the Office for National Statistics figures show.