The True History of Valentine's Day

The history of Valentine's Day is not actually clear cut. One point of note is that there was an old Roman pagan fertility celebration that occurred annually on February the 15th.This day was recast as a Christian feast day, just one day earlier on the 14th of February sometime around 496 A.D.                                                       The Catholic church has 3 st Valentine's on it's books, notably all three were martyred on the same date - February 14th. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia,.one was a priest in Rome, another a bishop in Terni, and of a third St. Valentine who met his end in Africa, little else is known.  The St. Valentine associated with Valentine's Day was a priest who attracted the disfavor of Roman emperor Claudius II around 270 A.D. From here the story is unclear. According to the most popular legend, Emperor Claudius II had prohibited marriage for young men, claiming that bachelors made better soldiers. Valentine, who disagreed with this, began secretly performing marriage ceremonies but in due course was eventually caught out by the Romans and subsequently put to death. Another version says that Valentine, imprisoned by Claudius, fell in love with the daughter of his jailer. Before he was executed, he allegedly sent her a letter signed "from your Valentine."  In 1969, the Catholic Church revised its calendar, removing the feast days of saints whose historical origins were questionable. St. Valentine was one of those culled from the celebratory days. However, February the 14th was still not widely associated with the idea of love and romance. In 1381 it was Chaucer who first linked St. Valentine's Day with romance. He had composed a poem in honor of the engagement between England's Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. Chaucer associated the occasion with a feast day in his work "The Parliament of Fowls". "For this was on St. Valentine's Day, When every fowl cometh there to choose his mate."  The royal engagement, the mating season of birds, and St. Valentine's Day thus became linked. Through time the holiday began to re-evolve, and by the 18th century, gift-giving and exchanging hand-made cards on Valentine's Day had become common in England. Valentine's day card were made of ribbons and lace featuring cupids and heart.  The idea of Valentine's Day cards did not takeoff in the United States until the 1850's when an enterprising woman decided to start mass producing them. Up until now, all valentine's day cards had been handmade.  Nowadays of course, along with most things these days, Valentine's day has become highly commercialised for many people. It has been said that 25% of all cards sent each year are actually Valentine's Day cards..