THE STORY OF SAINT VALENTINE

In February we celebrate Valentine's Day. Observed as a lovers' holiday, with the giving of candy, flowers, or other gifts between couples in love, Valentine’s Day began in 5th Century Rome as a tribute to Saint Valentine, an early church bishop.

For eight hundred years prior to the establishment of Valentine's Day, the Romans celebrated a mid-February fertility festival in honor of the pastoral god, Lupercus. The celebration included a special rite of passage for young men. The young men drew the names of teenage girls from a box. The name drawn indicated the girl who would be assigned to the young man to be his sexual companion during the remaining year.

In an effort to do away with this pagan festival, Pope Gelasius ordered a change in the lottery. Instead of the names of young women, the box would contain the names of saints. Both men and women were allowed to draw from the box and they were instructed to emulate the ways of the saint they drew during the rest of the year. We can probably assume that many of the young Roman men were not too pleased with the rule changes.

The Church looked for a suitable patron saint of love to replace Lupercus. Valentine, who, in 270 CE had been beheaded by Emperor Claudius, was chosen. Claudius believed that married men made poor soldiers and forbade them to marry. However, Valentine secretly presided at the marriages of young men and women who came to him. When Claudius found out about Valentine’s nuptial activities, he made efforts to convert him to the religion of the Empire. But Valentine resisted and attempted to convert Claudius. When Valentine failed, Claudius had Valentine imprisoned, stoned, and beheaded.

During the days that Valentine was imprisoned, he fell in love with the blind daughter of his jailer. Tradition tells us that his love for her, and his great faith, resulted in a miraculous healing of her blindness. Before he was taken to his death, he sent her a farewell message signed, "From your Valentine," a phrase that has been used on his day ever since.

Although the female companion lottery had been banned by the church, the mid-February holiday in commemoration of Saint Valentine was still used by Roman men to seek the affection of women. It became a tradition for the men to give the ladies they admired handwritten messages of affection that contained Valentine's name. The first Valentine cards grew out of this practice.

Verses and Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, when lovers said or sang their valentines. The oldest "valentine" in existence was sent in 1415 by Charles, duke of Orleans, to his wife. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London at the time. Paper valentines were exchanged in Europe where they were given in place of valentine gifts. Paper valentines were especially popular in England. Early valentines were made by hand and were made with colored paper, watercolors, and colored inks.

Cupid often appears on Valentine cards. Cupid became associated with the holiday because he was the son of Venus, the Roman god of love and beauty. Cupid has always played a role in the celebrations of love and lovers. A mischievous, winged child, his arrows pierced the hearts of his victims causing them to fall deeply in love. In ancient Greece he was known as Eros, the young son of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty.

Mass production of valentines began in the early 1800's. Early manufactured valentines were black and white pictures painted by workers in a factory. Fancy valentines were made with real lace and ribbons. In the early 1900's Norcross and Hallmark became America’s leading manufacturers of the familiar greetings we send today.