Those on the lookout for love in this traditional month of romance could do worse than head for Whitefriars Street Church in Dublin.

Who better to consult on matters of the heart than the patron saint of love himself, Saint Valentine, whose remains are held in this unassuming Carmelite church near the centre of the Irish capital?

Christian legend has it that Valentine was a priest in Rome who was executed on February 14, 269, for performing secret marriages at a time when young men were forbidden from wedlock — the Emperor Claudius 11 maintained that single men made the best soldiers. While awaiting execution in prison, it is said that Valentine befriended Julia, the blind daughter of his jailer, and tried unsuccessfully to perform the miracle of restoring her sight. On the eve of his execution he sent her a note containing a yellow crocus and the message, "From your Valentine". Upon receiving the note, Julia is believed to have looked down at the crocus and to have seen vibrant colours for the first time in her life. In AD 498 Pope Gelasius named February 14 Saint Valentine's Day to acknowledge the miracle and the crocus, which blooms around this time of year in Europe, became known as St Valentine's flower.

St Valentine's Day is also thought to have coincided with the ancient Roman Festival of Lupercalia, which marked the beginning of the mating season for birds. On that day young girls made elaborate love messages and placed them in an urn, from which young men would then pick the name of a maiden whom they would spend the following year wooing. It is the combination of this festival and the legend of the Byronic saint which lie behind the modern rite of card-sending and flower-buying which occurs on February 14 each year.

The Irish connection with the legend came about when the Carmelite priest Fr John Spratt visited Rome in 1835. Wowing audiences with his spirited preaching, Spratt was showered with presents by Rome's high society. Even Pope Gregory XVI was impressed, so impressed that he decided to give the Dublin-based priest the remains of the saint. In 1836 Spratt returned to Ireland with St Valentine's remains and took them to the Whitefriars Street Church.

It was not until the 1950s, however, that church authorities realised the true significance of the remains in their safe-keeping and quickly erected an altar and shrine to Valentine, featuring a statue of the saint holding a crocus flower. Ever since, lovelorn locals have hastened to the shrine to pray for a little divine assistance in snaring the object of their affections; couples come in droves to reaffirm their devotion to each other.

Whether or not paying a visit to the shrine of Saint Valentine proves effective in attracting or holding onto your sweetheart, the Whitefriars Street Church at least offers some insurance against ending up totally desperate and dateless. In another corner of the church is the shrine of St Jude, the saint of hopeless causes.

How to find Saint Valentine:

Whitefriars Street Church is on Aungier St which is in central Dublin, an easy walk from the city's highlights. From the corner of St Stephen's Green (West) and Grafton St, take the second right turn onto York St. Walk to the end of York St and turn onto Aungier St. Cross to the other side of the road and the church is at 56 Aungier Street, Dublin 2.

Local buses also run past the church from O'Connell Street. Take bus number 16, 16A, 19, 19A or 122.

For more information on Whitefriars Church, go to: www.visitdublin.com