The Story of Valentine's Day

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The Story of Valentine's Day

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Every year on February 14th, people around the world give gifts, chocolates, and cards to their sweethearts. This is Valentine’s Day. But who was St. Valentine? Where did these traditions come from? How has the tradition spread around the world? How did the tradition go from beheading to betrothing?

For a long time February has been celebrated as a month of romance, but many of the St. Valentine’s Day traditions are shrouded in mystery. This is the story of St. Valentine’s Day. 

When you’ve read, test your knowledge with the Quizlet and Kahoot activities.

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Contents

The Legend of St. Valentine
The Origins of Valentine’s Day
The Festival of Lupercalia in England & France
The First Valentines
Where did Cupid come from? 
Commercial Valentine's Day Cards
Religious Pilgrimages
Religious Relics
Modern Celebrations

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The Story of Valentine's Day

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Cover Image: Wikimedia. Public Domain.

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The Legend of St. Valentine

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The origins are certainly traced back to ancient Rome, with pagan and Christian roots. But first, who was Saint Valentine? The Catholic Encyclopedia and other hagiographical sources mention three Saint Valentines that appear in connection with February 14. They were named Valentine or Valentinus and were possibly the same person. (the name “Valentinus”comes from the Latin word for ‘worthy’ or ‘powerful’ and was popular between the second and eighth centuries) Interestingly, the three ‘Valentines’ were all martyrs, as early origins began during the period of Christian persecution in ancient Rome.

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The Story of Valentine's Day

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Image: St. Valentine in Prison. Public Domain.

The Legend of St. Valentine

One legend says Valentine was Roman priest who lived in the 3rd Century, CE. At the time, Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men, believing that single men made better soldiers and were more likely to go to war than married men. Valentine continued to marry young couples in secret but was discovered, tortured, and executed by Claudius. This account says Valentine did the priestly act of falling in love with the jailor’s daughter and wrote her a message before his death, signing it “From your Valentine”. This was the Saint Valentine of Rome, martyred on February 14 in 269 CE, and the Valentine associated with the ‘holiday’. 

Image: Saint Valentine of Terni oversees the construction of his basilica at Terni, from a 14th-century French manuscript (BN, Mss fr. 185). Public Domain.

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The Story of Valentine's Day

The Legend of St. Valentine

Another legend says that Valentine was under house arrest of Judge Asterius, discussing his faith with him. As he dangerously preached to the judge he was challenged to perform a miracle. He had apparently healed his daughter’s blindness, prompting the family and servants to convert to Christianity. His act of kindness and the miracle was discovered by Emperor Claudius II, still the leader of a pagan society, and thus was tortured and beheaded. Before his death it said he sent a letter to the judge’s daughter and signed it “from your Valentine”. There is a similar story in which a bishop was called to pray for the son of a scholar or orator named Craton, who kept a school and housed visiting Greek scholars. His son could not speak or straighten his body. A miracle was worked and the family converted to Christianity. Similarly to the other account, Claudius saw this as a threat with the bishop being beheaded by Claudius. (apparently all of the newly converted Christians were put to death) 

Did you know? You can celebrate Valentine’s Day several times a year. For example, the Eastern Orthodox Church officially celebrates St. Valentine twice, once as an elder of the church on July 6 and once as a martyr on July 30. And there are more! (History.com)

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The Story of Valentine's Day

St. Valentine of Terni

Some say the real Saint Valentine was Saint Valentine of Terni, Italy, a bishop. He was also beheaded by Claudius. Regardless of who the real Valentine was, he was sympathetic to others, heroic, and a hopeless romantic. By the Middle Ages, Valentine became one of the most popular saints in England and France. The problem with the stories is that two of them are so similar that they aren’t likely to be true. (an imprisoned priest or bishop that healed the captor’s daughter, was beheaded, and buried along a highway) The accounts given, likely starting in 500 CE, make no mention of love. The fact that promoting love and lovers is not exactly compatible with Christian doctrine, it is dubious that the Catholic Church wanted such a holiday. 

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The Story of Valentine's Day

Image: Saint Valentine of Terni oversees the construction of his basilica at Terni, from a 14th-century French manuscript (BN, Mss fr. 185). Public Domain.

St. Valentine of Terni

There are other stories of a Valentine saving prisoners from harsh Roman prisons, and perhaps as many as 30 “Valentines” and a couple “Valentinas”. Historians believe that the different accounts were likely of the same person, if any of the stories have a shred of truth.

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The Story of Valentine's Day

Image: St Valentine baptizing St Lucilla, Jacopo Bassano. 1500s. Public Domain.

The Origins of Valentine’s Day

It is likely that Valentine’s Day, like many modern holidays, began as a pagan tradition. The middle of February is when Valentine may have died, so the holiday was to commemorate his death, which some say occurred in 270 CE. In 496, CE Pope Gelasius I and the Catholic Church attempted to “Christianize” the pagan holiday Lupercalia, a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. The feast of St. Valentine was thus held on February 14. This was dedicated to the Saint Valentine of Rome who was martyred exactly 200 years earlier. 

Image: The Lupercalian Festival in Rome (ca. 1578–1610), drawing by Adam Elsheimer, showing the Luperci dressed as dogs and goats, with Cupid and personifications of fertility. Public Domain.

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The Story of Valentine's Day