Today, February 14, is the memorial of Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius.
They were two Byzantine Greek brothers born in Thessaloniki in the 9th century. They became missionaries of Christianity among the Slavic peoples of Bulgaria, Great Moravia and Pannonia. Through their work they influenced the cultural development of all Slavs, for which they received the title “Apostles to the Slavs”. They are credited with devising the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet used to transcribe Old Church Slavonic.
In 1980, Pope St. John Paul II declared them co-patron saints of Europe, together with St. Benedict, St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Edith Stein.