St Valentine's Day is believed to have its origins in ancient pagan celebrations. February 14th was an ancient Roman holiday to honor Juno, the queen of the Roman gods and goddesses. (Juno was also known as the goddess of women and marriage.) And February 15th began the celebration of Lupercalia, which honored the Roman gods Lupercus and Faunus. In addition to being a bountiful feast, this was also a fertility festival, a time to meet and court a prospective mate. Men would draw women's names from a box and they would be coupled for the duration of the festival. For hundreds of years (approximately 800 years) the Romans practiced this pagan celebration commemorating the young men's rite of passage to the god Lupercus.

Christianity began to spread throughout Rome and in AD 496, Pope Gelasius outlawed the pagan festival. But he needed to replace it with a similar celebration. So the celebration of Lupercalia was moved from February 15th to February 14th and named St. Valentine's Day in honor of a priest martyred in the 3rd century, or so the story goes. It seems, however, there is some question as to whom the honor of this holiday really belongs.

Some say St. Valentine was somebody who suffered with his companions in Africa, but not much is known about him. Others say St. Valentine, a bishop of Ternia (Interamna), is commemorated on this day. And still others say that St. Valentine was a priest in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius II (Claudius the Cruel). To further confuse matters, some think the latter two are the same person, while others think the holiday commemorates both figures. But the most popular opinion is that St Valentine's Day is named after the priest in Rome who was martyred by Claudius on February 14, 269 AD.

One story says that Claudius reigned during a somewhat troubled time in Rome. Hw was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join the military as the Roman men did not wish to leave their loved ones and families. So Claudius banned engagements and marriages in Rome. But young people continued to get married in secret (providing they could find a willing priest). Saint Valentine was one of the few that supported them. He would help these young couples to get secretly married, and for this he was put into prison. He was brought before the Prefect of Rome where he was sentenced to be beaten to death, then beheaded.

Another story with more of a Christian theme, says that Claudius was imprisoning Christians for not worshipping the Roman gods, at which time Valentine was arrested. Perhaps it was because he was performing Christian marriages. Perhaps it was because he was aiding Christians to escape from the Roman prisons. (Perhaps it was because he was doing both.) Anyway, when they asked Valentine about his beliefs, he said the Roman gods were false gods and that the God Jesus called Father was the one and only true God. For this he was thrown into prison, and because he continued to witness for the one true God, and because people had come to know Jesus through him, he was beheaded.

Whichever story may be true (and I think there is some truth in both) Valentine supposedly fell in love with the blind daughter of his jailer while he was imprisoned. The story says that, through his faith and love, he was able to miraculously heal her of her blindness and that, on the day he was to die, Valentine wrote her a note thanking her for her kindness and loyalty and signing it, "From Your Valentine." And this phrase has been used ever since.

Regardless of which story is true, St. Valentine was martyred on February 14, 269 AD. Because he was martyred on the date coinciding with the pagan festival of Lupercalia, and because Valentine loved God and his fellows so much that he continued to risk his life in ancient Rome in order to carry God's message of love, his name was chosen for this holiday of love. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) Fitting, isn't it?

There are other facts, ideas, traditions, and/or beliefs that are wrapped up around the St. Valentines Day celebration. These include things that range from the mythology surrounding Cupid, to ideas concerning flowers and poetry for Valentine's day, to current traditions from around the world. If this sounds like something that might be of interest to you, I invite you to visit the Beliefs and Traditions page.