Feb 1, 2022
Every February 14, across the United States and in many places around the world, loved ones exchange candy, flowers and gifts, all in the name of St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint, and where did our present-day traditions come from?
The history of Valentine’s Day—and the story of its patron saint—is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. But who was Saint Valentine, and how did he become associated with this ancient rite? The legends are numerous.
The most commonly accepted story begins in Rome, during the third century, at a time when persecution of Christians was running rampant. Emperor Claudius II declared young men could not marry because single men made better soldiers.
A priest named Valentine thought this was unfair and married young lovers in secret. This did not go unnoticed by Claudius, who ordered the priest to be imprisoned and executed. While in prison, Valentine helped his jailer’s daughter with her sickness. Before his execution, he sent her a note signed “From your Valentine,” an expression still in use today. It is said his sentence was carried out on February 14, 270 AD. Father Valentine, the friend of sweethearts, became a martyr to love and the sanctity of marriage.
Another legend is that Valentine, whose ministry was to help Christians escape persecution, was killed for helping Christians escape from Roman prisons. To “remind them of God’s love and to encourage them to remain faithful Christians,” Saint Valentine is said to have cut hearts from parchment, giving them to soldiers and persecuted Christians, a possible origin of the widespread use of hearts on Saint Valentine’s Day.
Many believe that Valentine’s Day is observed in honor of Valentine’s death and was originally a Pagan Festival. But others believe that is was the Christians who placed St. Valentine’s Day in the middle of February to Christianize the Pagan Lupercalia festival, which occurred on February 15th which was a fertility celebration.
This celebration was a gathering of Roman priests, the order of Luperci, at a cave believed to be where the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, were cared for by a she-wolf while infants. The priests would slaughter a goat and a dog representing fertility and purification. These sacrificial animals were then prepared for the ceremony. The goat’s hide was cut into strips, dunked into blood, slapped against woman’s backs and then laid in the planting fields. This ceremony was believed to make the woman and the fields more fertile. Roman woman looked forward to this event since it would make them more fertile in the new year. After this ceremony, the young woman would place their name in a vessel and the bachelors of the area would select a name. These couples would be paired for the year which frequently led to marriage.
In the 5th century Pope Gelasius officially declared February 14th St. Valentine’s Day and Luperalia was outlawed. But it still was not a day for lovers. By the middle ages people from France and England believed bird mating season started February 14th. This was probably the beginning of the idea that St. Valentine’s Day should be for those in love.
The popularity of a Valentine’s greeting began in the middle Ages. But the written form was not seen until after 1400. In 1415 Duke of Orleans, Charles, was captured at the battle of Agincourt and imprisoned in the Tower of London where he wrote the first known Valentine (located at the British Library London, England in their manuscript collection) to his wife as a poem. Sometime after Charles’s poem, King Henry V is believed to have hired John Lydgate, a writer, to compose a valentine for his lovely wife Catherine of Valois. In the middle of the 18th century people of all classes were exchanging gifts of affection, written notes, and handmade cards.
In the 1840’s Esther A. Howland (1828-1904), known as “Mother of the American Valentine”, mass-produced Valentine cards in Worchester, Massachusetts. She formed her own company called the New England Valentine Company. Esther is attributed to developing two innovative Valentine card designs. The first was the idea of placing the white paper lace over the colored wafer paper to give contrast and the second was her shadow box design. The American Valentine greeting card, as we know it, was created by Esther.
By 1900 the handwritten note or handmade card was replaced by the printed card. Valentine’s Day is not only observed in the United States but also in England, Mexico, Canada, France, and Australia. Over one billion Valentines are sent every year which makes it the second largest card giving time (according to the Greeting Card Association) with Christmas Cards being first.
Knowing the history of this day can afford us to feel good about continuing this tradition. Since, the sending of cards did not begin to support the greeting card industry. But rather the greeting card was developed as a vehicle for expressing ones love.
Happy Valentine’s Day.