Many seem to view St. Valentine’s Day as a recently commercialised occasion promoted by florists, gift services and chocolatiers and designed sell their wares by the truckload, when what we should really be focusing on is something that’s free – LOVE. The truth is this day of giving is actually a very old tradition indeed. So how did this day of romance really begin?
St. Valentine’s Day began as a public feast and celebration for one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus, all living around the first century AD. Nothing is reliably known of St. Valentine except his name and the fact that he died on February 14 on Via Flaminia in the north of Rome.
The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. And whilst there are no surviving records to confirm what really happened, the stories that have been handed down by generation to generation have in them the very essence of romance, of a sort.
One legend contends that Valentinus was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men, deciding that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families Valentinus began perform marriages for young lovers in secret.
Another story suggests that Valentinus helped Christians escape torturous conditions in harsh Roman prisons.
Yet another fable tells of an imprisoned Valentinus sending the first “valentine” greeting himself after he healed and then fell in love with his jailor’s daughter Asterius, writing a letter to her before his execution and signing it “From your Valentine”.
In truth the stories of these three saints could in fact all be of the very same man. But regardless of the truth each of these tales have at their core a heroic, sympathetic and romantic man. That combined with a public feast in times of absolute famine would make this celebration a popular and welcomed one.
So much so that hundreds of years later, in the dark Middle Ages, Valentinus’s reputation would be the light (and the meal-ticket) that would see him become one of the most popular saints in England and France.
The day was first connected with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the custom of courting for love blossomed. By the 15th century, it had transformed into a chance for lovers to express their love for each other by bestowing flowers, chocolates and confectionery, and the giving of signed or anonymous greeting cards (known as “valentines”)
Today, officially Saint Valentine’s Day is a feast day in the Anglican Communion and the Lutheran Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church also celebrates Saint Valentine’s Day, albeit on July 6th and July 30th, the former date in honor of the Roman presbyter Saint Valentine, and the latter date in honor of Hieromartyr Valentine, the Bishop of Interamna.
The day is also seen my many (sometimes illogically) as the perfect wedding date and there are some famous (or rther infamous) Valentine’s Day weddings including The Captain and Tennille, Elton John and Renate Blauel, Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid, Jerry Garcia and Deborah Koons, and Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee.
Most of us can’t help but get caught up in the feel good romance of it all. Love is infectious, delightful and enjoyable. So no matter if you’re alone, or if you’re lucky enough to have someone special to share this day with,why not grab a Rom-Com movie, prepare something special (and slightly healthy) to eat and open a bottle of wine and celebrate one of the most wonderful emotions we can experience in life … that four letter word … L – O – V – E.