Each year on February 14, millions of decorated cards are exchanged by husbands and wives, friends and lovers, boys and girls. In spite of its great popularity, little is actually known about the origin of Valentine's Day.
There are several people in history to whom the honor of being the original St. Valentine might be given. These are the stories of three.
In third-century Rome, young men did not want to enlist in the army. Claudius II ordered young men not to marry, believing they would be more willing then to leave Rome. Moved by compassion for the young men and their sweethearts, Valentine the priest married them secretly.
Another Valentine, a priest and physician, was imprisoned for his Christian beliefs when he met the blind daughter of his jailer. He offered prayers for her healing, and the girl's sight was restored. On the night before he was martyred, he wrote the girl a farewell message and signed it "From your Valentine."
Valentine, the bishop of Interamna, was imprisoned for refusing an edict of the emperor and died in prison. A basilica was erected on the site of his burial plot as early as 350, and Pope Gelasius I declared him a saint.
In pre-Christian Rome, February 15 was the date of the holiday Lupercalia and later the holiday Juno Februata. Young women would write love notes and deposit them in a large urn. Young men would draw the notes and then court the ones whose messages they received.
When Christianity became the religion of Rome, the holiday was merged with the martyrdom of St. Valentine on February 14.
Christians popularized Valentine's Day as they moved through Europe. In the Middle Ages when few people could read, friends sang their valentines to each other.
American colonists had a break from outdoor work in winter. It was then that young men made their own valentines, sealed them with wax and delivered them personally.
