Valentine, George M., a clergyman of the Church of England, of whose birth or early life no record re- mains, distinguished hiniself in the University of Cam- bridge, and graduated at Trinity College in 18"29. He was ordained in the same year to the curacy of Port- ishead, near Bristol, where he gave himself wholly to pastoral labors for eight years. In 1837 he offered himself to the missionary committee, and in the follow- ing year sailed for Bombay, began the study of the na- tive language, and taught a stuall English school. In 1839 he was married. He soon entered upon general missionary duties, and thus continued until his last sick- ness, which in a few weeks terminated in his death, July 23, 1846. See Chris/inn Gminlian, 1847, p. 433.
Valentine, Jesse M., a minister of the IMethodist Episcopal Church, South. His early life is unknown. He was transferred from the Tennessee to the Florida Conference in 1850. and served faithfully about one year, when failing health necessitated his superannua- tion. He then studied medicine, and became quite suc- cessful in its practice. He entered the anny of the Con- federates some time in 18(51. and was soon after taken sick, and died at (laiiisville, Florida, in 1862. Mr. Val- entine was a graduate of West Point, a fine scholar, characterized by strong, logical reasoning powers, and pure language as a preacher, and as a pulpit orator was surpassed bv few. See Minnies of Annual Conferences ofM. E. Church, South (1862), p. 410.
Valentinian I, Roman emperor, was the son of Comes (Jratianus, and born in A.D. 321 at Cibeke. in Pannonia. He succeeded Jovian on the throne in 361, and, having associated his brother Valcns with himself in the empire, he assumed tlie government of the West. He protected the State against the incursions of the (iermanic tribes, simplilied and improved the internal administrati<in of affairs, and promoted the advancement of science and general culture, thereby winning for him- self an honorable place in the estimation of the world, despite the cruelties with which his life was stained. He died in the year 376. He had been reared amid Christian surroundings, and had drawn upon him the disfavor of the emperor Julian by his unfaltering fidel- ity to his faith. On assuming the control of govern- ment he issued an edict of universal toleration in relig- ious matters (see Cod. Theod. IX, xvi, 1, 9, ad A.D. 371), though he found it necessary to prohibit the offering of nocturnal sacrifices, as affording opportunity for polit- ical agitations, and also to forbid the practice of magic; and the execution of the Edict of Toleration contributed greatly towards the advancement of Christianity and
the decline of paganism. The expression rdhjlo paga- norum — the religion of peasrints — occurs for the first time in a law of Valentinian of the year 368 {ibid. XVI. ii, 18). Valentinian was also tolerant towards the dil- ferent parties in the Christian Church, though himself an adherent of the Nicene faith. See Ammian. Mar- cell, vi and xxx, 9; Smith, JHct.of Gr. and Rom.Biog. s. V. ; also Herzog, Real-Enci/klop. s. v.
Valentinian II, Roman emperor, was successor to his brother (iratian. Tiie only noteworthy incident of his reign wliich requires mention in this place was the attempt of the heathen iiarty, in the year 384, to recov- er the position it had lost. Symmachus, the pro'fectus urbis, demanded the retraction of the laws issued by Gra- tian against paganism, and insisted that the rellgio ur- bis should be kept distinct from the private religion of the emperor. He also asserted that, inasmuch as man has no knowledge of divine things, it wf)uld be best to
Coin of Valentinian II.
rely on the authority of antiquity ; that heathenism had made ancient Rome the mistress of the world ; and that the famine of the year 383 must be regarded as a consequence of the reiuniciation of the ancient religion. The etnperor was induced, however, chiefly through the efforts of Ambrose of Milan, to reject the demand. He was murdered by Arbogastes in the j'ear 392. His moth- er, Justina, was a zealous adherent and defender of the Arian party. See Smith, Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Biog. s. v.; and Herzog, Real-Kncykhip. s. v.
Valentinian III, Roman empemr, obtained noto- riety by issuing the edict of A.D. 445, which contrib- uted materially to the elevation of the papacy, for which see the articles Leo I and Papacy. He also issued laws against the jManichaeans. His mother, Pla-
L'oiu of Valentiniau I.
Coin of Valentinian 111.
cidia, administered the government for him until the year 450, and afterwards he gave himself up wholly to sensual indulgences, and left the control of affiiirs in the hantls of a eunuch. He was murdered in 455. See Smith, Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Biog. s. v.; and Herzog, Real-Encgkloj). s. v.
Valentinians, the followers of the Gnostic heretic
Valentinus (q. v.).
Valentinus, St., the reputed apostle of Rhfftia and bishop of Passau, is first mentioned, in an authentic manner, by Pez, in the biogra])hy of the younger St. Severin, § 35, in Sc?ipt07-es Rer. A ustriocor. i, 88. A presbyter, Lucillus, is there made to relate that a Val- entine who was his abbot and teacher had ministered as bishop of Rhietia early in the 5th century, and had died on Jan. 6 of some unmentioned year. Lucillus was ac- customed to observe tliat day in his honor. In one of the poems of Venantius Fortunatus (cir. 600) it is said that a number of churches of St. Valentinus were then planted along the Iim. One hundred years later Cor- binian visited the grave of the saint, near the Castle of Mais, in the Tyrolese Alps; and soon afterwards (in 730; see Aribo, in Vita Corbin. 18, in Meichelbeck, Histor. Frising. I, ii, 12) the Bavarian duke Thassilo caused Val-