The history of Valentine’s Day is obscure, and further clouded by various fanciful legends. The holiday roots are in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, a fertility celebration celebrated annually on February 15. Pope Gelasius I recast the pagen festival as a Christian feast day circa 496, declaring February 14 to be St Valentine’s Day.
Which St Valentine this early pope intended to honor remains a mystery. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there were at least three. One was a priest in Rome, another Bishop in Terni, and a third that almost nothing is known except that his demise was in Africa. Rather astonishingly, all three Valentines were said to have been martyred on Feb. 14th.
Most scholars believe that the St Valentine of the holiday was a priest who attracted the disfavor of the Roman emperor Claudius II around 270.According to one legend Claudius had prohibited marriage for young men. Claiming that bachelors made beter soldiers. Valentine continued to secretly perform marriages, but was eventually apprehended by the Romans and put to death. Another legend has it that Valentine imprisoned, fell in love with the daughter of his kailer. Before he was executed, he alledgedly sent her a letter signed “from your Valentine.” Probably the most plausible story surrounding St Valentine is one not focused on Eros, but on agape (Christian love). He was martyed for refusing to renounce his religion.
It was not until the 14th century that this Christian feast day became associated with love. It was Chaucer sho first linked St Valentine’s Day with romance.
