Saint Valentine's day legends

For many years now we have celebrated Valentine’s Day; many of us not knowing how this romantic holiday came about or who it was named after. Valentine’s Day is a special day that has been set aside in order to pay honorage to love. On the 14th of February, people send flowers, candy or cards as an expression of their love and appreciation to their lovers, friends or relatives. Yet, few will stop and ponder why this date singled out, or just whom this Valentine fellow was, that he should have a day named after him.

Who was Valentine? That question is not easy to answer because depending on which book you may read you may get a different version. You may find one author stating that there were two different men named Valentine whose lives were mixed together to form one legend. An

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A similar practice was begun in the fourteenth century. In 496 AD, Pope Gelasias changed the pagan Lupercalia from the 15th to the 14th to try and stop the pagan celebration. It is said in another story that Valentine was a priest that secretly married couples, defying the law of Emperor Claudius, which temporarily forbade marriages. And yet another author may say that there were three men named Valentine. The second story is, Valentine was a bishop of Terni martyred in Rome.

And yet another story said that Valentine was imprisoned for refusing to worship pagan gods. He was caught and put in jail; he became a believer there and was bludgeoned to death for this on February 14th, 269.

There are stories, such as these; Valentine was a Roman priest who was martyred during the prosecution of Claudius, the Goth, around AD 269 or 270 and was buried on the Flaminian Way.

The 14th of February was set apart as the special day to remember Saint Valentine. This was one day before the Roman Feast of Lupercalia, a pagan love festival.

Though we’re not quite sure who Valentine was, but Valentine’s Day is an extra special day to display even more love than usual to those around us. While in prison he is said to have sent messages to friends saying “Remember your Valentine” and “I love you”. This was done to correspond with the belief that the springtime mating between these randomly chosen pair was a forerunner of the modern Valentine’s Day card. A sweetheart was chosen for a day by lot.

Part of the festival of Lupercalia was putting girl’s names in boxes and letting the boys draw them out.

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