The History of Saint Valentine
by Kayla Garritano
Ever wonder how Valentine’s Day came about? Well, it turns out that it’s not as romantic and clear-cut as you would think. In fact, there wasn’t just one story; there were multiple!
The story of Saint Valentine turns out to be a blend of historical figures and legends, more so focusing on a Christian priest in Roman times who went against the Emperor Claudius II. This priest went behind the Emperor’s back and secretly married soldiers, as he believed marriage was a holy sacrament. Unfortunately, he was caught and imprisoned. This led to his execution on February 14th, around 270 AD.
One popular legend states that during this priest’s jail time, he healed his jailer’s blind daughter and signed his last note, “Your Valentine.” However, another popular legend states he healed a judge’s child. These statements eventually connected his martyrdom to what we know today as the celebration of love and romance.
However, there were rumors that the Bishop of Terni was the one to perform secret weddings and martyrdom, leading to his downfall on February 14th. The Priest and Bishop’s stories hold a lot of similarity, which is why they are deemed to be the most famous. But because “Valentine” was a popular name in ancient Rome; there are at least 50 stories of different saints by that name. It is hard to tell how the holiday came about.
Scholars who have studied its origins have also said that there’s very little basis, and that Valentine’s Day actually became associated with love in the late Middle Ages due to the poet, Geoffrey Chaucer.
Chaucer wrote a poem in the 1300s called Parliament of Fowls that contained the line, “For this was on Saint Valentine’s Day, when every bird comes there to choose his mate.” Due to this, Europe took on the idea of romance. Chaucer and other writers celebrated romance. By the 1400s, writers who were inspired by Chaucer began creating poems known as “valentines” to their love interests. It was then that Saint Valentine and romance were linked together.
While the identity of Saint Valentine remains a mystery, one thing is for sure: it is fascinating to see how time molds cultures into celebrating a day of romance!
