Every year on February 14 people around the globe celebrate their love for others through quality time, dinner dates, flowers, and chocolate. It could be a platonic love or a romantic love you share this special day with. This holiday is named Valentine’s Day after Saint Valentine. According to History.com, the Catholic Church recognizes three different Saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of which were martyrs – someone killed for their beliefs. The legends are hazy on how this holiday came about. Some say Valentine was a priest who thought Emperor Claudius Ⅱ’s ruling to outlaw marriage for men was unjust, and so he continued to perform marriages for young lovers. However when his actions were uncovered Claudius ordered him to be put to death. 

Other people insist it was based on Saint Valentine of Terni who was a bishop and also beheaded by Claudius. However, a different legend suggests that Valentine was a prisoner killed for ;’ Christians escape harsh Roman prisons. While imprisoned, Valentine supposedly sent the first “valentine” to his jailor’s daughter. Before he died he wrote her a letter ending in “From your Valentine,” an expression which is commonly used still today.

Some people claim that Christians decided to place Saint Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February so the pagan celebration of Lupercalia could be “Christianized.” Lupercalia was a fertility festival which was dedicated to Faunus and the founders of Rome — Romulus and Remus. Although it was outlawed in the 5th century due to its “un-christian” nature, afterward Pope Gelasius declared February 14 as Saint. Valentine’s day. 

Sometime later, during the Middle Ages, it was believed that people in France and England thought February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating seasons. This added to the “romance” in the middle of February. Valentine’s greetings were popular as far back as the middle ages, however, written ones didn’t appear until after the 1400s. The oldest known Valentine, which is still in existence today, was a poem written by Charles Duke to his wife while he was in the Tower of London serving his sentence in 1415. Despite that being the first known Valentine, the first record of Saint Valentine’s Day being a romantic celebration was also a poem. An English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer, wrote a poem in 1375 titled “Parliament of Foules.” He remarked, “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.” 

Which legend did you find most interesting? Which did you find most believable?         

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