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History of St. Valentine’s Day
St. Valentine was martyred on February 14. However, Valentine or Valentinus is the name of at least three martyred saints. The most celebrated are the two martyrs whose festival days fall on February 14. One was a Roman priest, the other, bishop of Terni.
Context
It would appear from legend that both lived during the reign of Emperor Claudius II (Gothicus) around 270; both died on the same day. Both were buried on the Via Flaminia but at different distances from the city of Rome. A third Valentine was a martyr in the Roman province of North Africa, about whom little is known.
This Claudius the Cruel had banned his soldiers from marrying, believing that unmarried members were more reliable on foreign military campaigns. Valentine was beaten and beheaded because he had secretly married soldiers to their wives, contrary to the ban.
It seems that the first celebration of the Feast of St. Valentine was declared to be on February 14 by Pope Gelasius I in 496. Valentine is the patron saint of beekeeping, epilepsy, the plague, fainting, and traveling.
And, of course, he’s also the patron saint of engaged couples and happy marriages. Many authorities believe that the lovers’ festival associated with St. Valentine’s day comes from the belief that this is the day in Spring when birds begin their mating. But there is another view.
Roman background to St Valentine’s Day
In the days of early Rome, a great festival was held every February called Lupercalia, held in honor of a god named Lupercus. During Rome’s founding days, the city was surrounded by an immense wilderness with great hordes of wolves. The Romans thought they must have a god to watch over and protect the shepherds with their flocks, so they called this god Lupercus, from the Latin word lupus, a wolf.
One of the amusements on this festival day was placing young women’s names in a box to be drawn out by the young men. Each young man accepted the girl whose name he drew as his lady love. It remains unknown whether the customs of Lupercalia are perpetuated on Valentine’s Day.
