Valentine's Day: Where Did It Come From?

February 14th is Valentine's Day, but where did it come from? Although it is celebrated as a lovers holiday today, with the giving of gifts between persons in love, it originated in Rome around the 5th Century as a tribute to St. Valentine, a Catholic bishop, who secretly married young Roman men and their brides. Let me explain: For 800 years prior to the establishment of Valentines Day, the Romans had practiced a pagan celebration in mid February commemorating a young man's right of passage to the God Lupercus. There was a lottery where the young men of that time would draw the name of teenage girls from a box and this girl would be the young man's sexual companion during the next year. (I think I would like this celebration better than the one we do now!) In an effort to do away with the pagan festival, Pope Gelasius ordered a slight change in the lottery. Instead of the names of young ladies; the box would be filled with the names of Saints....both young men and young ladies would draw from the box and emulate the ways and teachings of the Saint they drew during the upcoming year. Needless to say, this change did not set well with the young Roman men. Instead of the pagan God Lupercus, the church wanted a suitable patron saint of love to take his place....and found one in St. Valentine who was beheaded by Emperor Claudius in 270 AD. Claudius had determined that married men did not make good soldiers, so he banned marriage from his empire. Bishop Valentine would secretly marry young couples and was discovered doing this....Claudius then tried to convert Valentine to paganism....but Valentine reversed the strategy and tried to convert the Young Emperor. When this failed Valentine was thrown in prison and eventually beheaded. While in prison, it is said that Valentine fell in love with the blind daughter of his jailer. His love for her and his great faith in God was given credit for her miraculously getting back her vision....and before he was taken to his death....he signed a message left to her "From your Valentine." The phrase has been used on his day ever since! After this, it became a tradition for men to give the ones they admired handwritten messages of affection, containing Valentines name. The first recorded Valentine card of sorts was sent in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife....he was imprisoned in the Tower of London at the time. So, as Paul Harvey use to say, "Now You Know The Rest Of the Story!" good bye.