Valentine’s Day
Pope Gelasius designated February 14th as a feast day to honor the martyr, Valentine. There were three Saints named Valentine recorded in history and each was martyred on the 14th of February.
The most well known and commonly associated St.Valentine lived in Rome as a priest, another was a bishop in Terni, and the third was martyred in Africa.
It is thought that Valentine, the Roman priest, lived around 270 AD. The “friend of lovers” fell into the bad graces of emperor Claudius II. The emperor banned his soldiers from marrying because he thought unmarried men would be less afraid during battle. Valentine took pity on the lovers and secretly married many couples, despite the emperors ban. His kindness to the couples was discovered and he was imprisoned. While there he miraculously healed the jailors daughter of her blindness. Emperor Claudius had him brought before him and tried to convert him to the Roman, pagan gods. Valentine in turn shared the gospel with the emperor. He was executed but not before he penned a letter to the jailors daughter signing it:
“From Your Valentine”.
Valentine became the Patron Saint for February 14th; a day for lovers. It became an annual observance for men to give handwritten notes of affection to women they admired, these notes were known as Valentine’s.
In Medieval France and England it was believed that birds mated on February 14th.
By the 18th century exchanging cards and gifts had become common practice. The tradition of giving cards to the man or woman one loved spread to the American colonies. Valentine’s Day greeting cards were being commercially produced in the US by the1840’s.
St. Valentine
