Front Page > Articles > Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day

Saint Valentine's Day or Valentine's Day falls on February 14. It is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine's cards, often anonymously. The holiday is named after two men, both Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

The day is now most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of "valentines".

• The Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas.
• Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards.
• The Greeting Card Association estimates that women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.
• Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline and the figure of the winged Cupid.

History

The history of Valentine's Day is obscure, and further clouded by various fanciful legends. The holiday's roots are in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, a fertility celebration commemorated annually on February 15. Pope Gelasius I recast this pagan festival asa Christian feast day circa 496, declaring February 14 to be St. Valentine's Day.

Which St. Valentine this early pope intended to honour remains a mystery: according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there were at least three early Christian saints by that name:

• One was a priest in Rome
• Another was a bishop in Terni
• A third St. Valentine almost nothing is known except that he met his end in Africa

Rather astonishingly, all three Valentines were said to have been martyred on Feb. 14.

Most scholars believe that the St. Valentine of the holiday was a priest who attracted the disfavour of Roman emperor Claudius II around 270. At this stage, the factual ends and the mythic begins:

Prohibited marriages

According to one legend, Claudius II had prohibited marriage for young men, claiming that bachelors made better soldiers. Valentine continued to secretly perform marriage ceremonies but was eventually apprehended by the Romans and put to death.

Daughter of his jailer

Another legend has it that Valentine, imprisoned by Claudius, fell in love with the daughter of his jailer. Before he was executed, he allegedly sent her a letter signed "from your Valentine".

For love of a god

Probably the most plausible story surrounding St. Valentine is one not focused on Eros (passionate love for a person) but on agape (Christian love of a god): he was martyred for refusing to renounce his religion.

In 1969, the Catholic Church revised its liturgical calendar, removing the feast days of saints whose historical origins were questionable. St. Valentine was one of the casualties.

Over the centuries, the holiday evolved, and by the 18th century, gift-giving and exchanging hand-made cards on Valentine's Day had become common in England. The tradition of Valentine's cards did not become widespread in the United States until they were mass-produce in the 1850s.

View comments