Valentine ’ s Day
History of
Valentine ’ s Day
by Adelia Ladson
Valentine ’ s Day or St . Valentine ’ s Day is celebrated across the globe by many countries . Although , celebrated with different traditions in someplaces , it is universally celebrated as “ a day of love and romance .” But who is this St . Valentine that gets an international holiday named after him ?
Unfortunately , there ’ s not a solid answer on that . The patron saint of this holiday seems as mythical as Cupid flying around with his bow and arrows .
In fact , there are several saints , recognized by the Catholic Church , with the name “ Valentine ” and even a Pope . There are two front-runners from the Third Century , though , and both of them were beheaded on February 14 . ( How romantic is that ?) And that ’ s where the facts end .
There are varying stories of the circumstances of their martyrdoms and where they took place . One of the stories tells of St . Valentine converting a Roman family to Christianity after healing the daughter of blindness . In another version , he cures the son . Either way , it brings down the wrath of the Roman emperor of the time .
There are , however , two St Valentine ’ s accounts that seem to be closer to the reason for the holiday and they seemed to pop-up around the Middle Ages . In one story , the saint is behead for performing secret marriages of young couples after the emperor outlawed marriage for young men . The emperor had decided that single men made better soldiers . The second story says that he was imprisoned for helping Christians escape
Roman prisons and he fell in love with a young girl , maybe the jailor ’ s daughter , who visited him in prison . The legend says that he sent the first “ valentine ” greeting to the girl with a letter signed , “ From your Valentine .”
These romantic and heroic stories of St . Valentine , from the Middle Ages , made him one of the most popular saints in England and France . Coupled with that , during the Middle Ages in England and France , it was widely believed that February 14 , was the beginning of birds ’ mating season . ( It ’ s all about “ the birds and the bees ” folks .)
Photo by Gigi on Unsplash
34 Valdosta Scene | February 2025