Valentine’s Day has for centuries been about romantic love. Few though, know the full story behind Valentine’s Day, named after Saint Valentine’s day. Fact is, we may never know the full story behind Saint Valentine, especially since there are actually 3 Saint Valentines listed in the The Catholic Encyclopedia (and all are associated with February 14th). The Valentine’s Day we celebrate today is actually a mixture of facts, mythology and legend. We do know there is archaeological evidence of a Saint Valentine and in 496 CE (or 496 AD if you prefer) Pope Gelasius dedicated February 14th to celebrate and honor of his martyrdom.
The story of Valentine’s Day, if we combine the various legends, myths and facts, goes something like this: Between 268 to 270 AD, of the time of the Roman Emperor Claudius II, was a Christian priest name Valentine. Under the rule of Claudius II Christians were persecuted for practicing their religion. It was a difficult time for the Roman Empire. The Empire had begun to fracture and faced internal power struggles as well as the external threat of invasion. To make matters worse, a plague had begun to creep across the Roman Empire (possibly small pox from historic descriptions). Claudius was in desperate need of troops to restore order in the state and repeal foreign invaders.
To Claudius, the best fighting men were single. Claudius reasoned that an unmarried man was more likely to endure the harsh battle conditions in distance lands since he would not be worried about wife and family back home (or desert to join them). Worse, a married man might worry what would happen to his wife and children should he die and therefore may act less than heroic in battle. So, the obvious answer to Claudius was to ban marriage. Polygamy was popular in Rome so marriage would not be missed. And this Christian idea of a spiritual bonding in marriage was not only a threat to Claudius’ ability to raise troops, but must also have struck Claudius as a threat to the Roman way of life.
Enter Valentine the Christian priest who took love, marriage and the bonding of a man and a woman very seriously. So seriously in fact that he began performing marriages in secret for couples seeking to be bonded to one another, and no other. A joyous thing such as marriage cannot be kept secret for long. As the number of married couples grew (and the knowledge Valentine was helping Christians escape Roman persecution), so did the reputation of this priest in a new religion called Christianity who was willing to defy the Emperor and risk death to marry willing couples for life. One can only imagine that Valentine was a true, heroic romantic who felt love must triumph, even in the darkest times. Eventually, Valentine was captured and sent to prison.
On legend has it that Valentine refused to deny his love of the one God. He would not give up being Christian, despite imprisonment, beatings and torture. Some say it was the governor of the region, others say it was the jailor, but his name was Asterius, and he challenged Valentine to prove his faith. Asterius had a daughter who was blind. If Valentine and his God could restore Asterius’ daughter’s vision, Asterius would convert to Christianity. Further, Asterius would convert his whole household to Christianity. Valentine accepted the challenge. After deep prayer and meditation, Valentine asked Asterius to bring his daughter to him, and when he did, the girls sight was restored. Asterius was so impressed he fulfilled his word and converted his household to Christianity.
Stories of Valentine seemed to reach the Emperor himself. Claudius found Valentine an interesting and intelligent man. But, when Valentine attempted to convert Claudius to Christianity, that was the final straw for Claudius. This upstart priest of Christianity who had defied his ban on marriage, who had survived (even flourished) a brutal imprisonment, this man must be put down. Valentine was put to brutal death being beaten, stoned and finally beheaded. Just before his death, he wrote a message to Asterius’ daughter, perhaps to reinforce the importance of love, contentment and faith, and signed it, "From Your Valentine…".
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