Valentine is the Cowherd of the Herd of God — an innocent, bumbling cattle thief with, the scribes say, "an untapped genius for oratory." Kindhearted and optimistic, a natural follower who loves obedience, he has "all the eloquence of the animals he tends," except on the rare occasions when the holy spirit seizes him and ignites a hidden gift for divine oratory, of which he appears entirely unaware.
History. A pastoral youth from the high country near Crestone, Valentine tended cattle on summer alpine pasture until The Calf spoke to him through one of his cows — the same message the High Priest received from the bull. Somewhat misinterpreting it as a vegetarian call to arms, he refused to return the herd to its enclosure and instead led it down into the Dolores River canyon, where the cattle went feral. He confessed the theft merrily to a local news outlet, rambling about his communications with the god; Duncan Horst saw the clip and took him on as a protégé. He wears a cowbell and relates to the Golden Calf "as just another wayward cow that needs to get along and get moving."