VALENTINE / LOVE
Celebrated on February 14 each year, Valentine’s Day or Valentine’s Day is the traditional day on which lovers pass on their love to each other by sending Valentine’s cards, sometimes even anonymously. The most common feature of Valentine’s Day these days is the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of “valentines”. Popular Valentine symbols of modern times include the heart-shaped outline and the winged Cupid figure. Since the 19th century, mass-produced greeting cards have largely replaced handwritten notes. It is believed that nearly one billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year around the world, making it the second-highest card-sending holiday after Christmas. Women are believed to purchase approximately 85 percent of all “valentines.”
Stories of many Valentines
Opinions differ on who Valentine was. The earliest martyrologies mention at least three Saint Valentines dated February 14. One is a priest in Rome, another bishop of Interamna (now Terni in Italy), and the other lived and died in Africa. Many, however, are of the opinion that the first two are the same person.
However, it is widely believed that Valentine’s Day may have originated from the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia. On February 15, a festival was held in honor of one of their gods, Lupercus, whom the Romans invoked to ward off the threats of those ferocious wolves that roamed the adjacent forests. On the eve of the Lupercalia festival, a love lottery was organized in which the names of Roman girls were written on strips of paper and placed in jars. Then each young man drew a ticket and the girl whose name he chose would be his girlfriend for the year.
Subsequently, the holiday became Valentine’s Day after a priest named Valentine. At that time, when Christianity was still a new religion, Valentine was a priest in Rome. The then Emperor Claudius II had issued an order forbidding Roman soldiers from marrying or becoming engaged. The emperor believed that once they were married, his soldiers would want to stay home instead of fighting their wars. Valentine defied the Emperor’s decree and secretly married the young couples. He was finally arrested, imprisoned and beheaded on February 14, the eve of Lupercalia. Valentine was named a saint posthumously. As Christianity grew stronger in Rome, the priests moved the Lupercalia or spring festival from February 15 to February 14, that is, Valentine’s Day. Since then, the holiday began to honor Valentine instead of Lupercus.
“From your Valentine”
According to another story, Valentine was one of the first Christians who was captured and dragged before the prefect of Rome and imprisoned for helping some Christian martyrs. He healed the jailer’s daughter from blindness while she was in jail. When the emperor learned of this miracle, he ordered Valentine’s beheading. Valentine is said to have sent the jailer’s daughter a farewell message signed, “From your Valentine.”
In 1969, as part of a larger effort to reduce the number of purely legendary holy days, the Church removed Valentine’s Day as an official holiday from its calendar. Today, February 14 is dedicated solely to Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius.