The Legend of St. Valentine:
- Catholic church recognises at least 3 different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred
- One legend = Valentine was a priest who served during the 3rd century in Rome, when Emperor Claudius II decided to outlaw marriage for young men, Valentine defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret which made him be put to death by Claudius
- Others insist that it was St Valentine of Terni, a bishop, who was the true namesake of the holiday, who was beheaded by Claudius II outside Rome
- Other stories suggest Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons
- Another legend – an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first “valentine” greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl – possibly his jailor’s daughter – who visited him during his confinement, before his death it is alleged that he wrote a letter signed “From your Valentine”, an expression that is still in use today
Origins of Valentine’s Day: A Pagan Festival in February:
- Some believe Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial which probably occurred around A.D. 270
- Others claim that the Christian church tried to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia
- Lupercalia was a fertility festival celebrated on February 15th dedicated to Faunus (the Roman god of agriculture) as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus – this festival consisted of sacrificing a goat (for fertility) and a dog (for purity); dip strips of the goat’s hide in the sacrificial blood and slap women and crop fields with it (women welcomed this as they believed it would make them more fertile); then all the young women would place their names in a big urn and the city’s bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman
- Lupercalia was outlawed by the end of the 5th century (it was deemed “un-Christian”) when Pope Gelasius declared February 14th St. Valentines Day but it was not until much later until it was definitively associated with love
- During Middle Ages – it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14th was the beginning of birds’ mating season
- The English poet Geoffrey Chaucer was the first to record St. Valentine’s Day as a day of romantic celebration in his 1375 poem “Parliament of Foules” where he wrote “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.”
- Oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt
- It is also believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois
Read more here Valentine's Day 2024: Origins, Background & Traditions | HISTORY
Really cool post 
