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Every February, across the country, candy, flowers, and gifts are
exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. But who
is this mysterious saint and why do we celebrate this holiday? The
history of Valentine's Day — and its patron saint — is shrouded in
mystery. But we do know that February has long been a month of romance.
St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both
Christian and ancient Roman tradition. So, who was Saint Valentine and
how did he become associated with this ancient rite? Today, the
Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named
Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred.
One
legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third
century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made
better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed
marriage for young men — his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine,
realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to
perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions
were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.
Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for
attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons where they
were often beaten and tortured.
According to one
legend, Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' greeting himself.
While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a
young girl — who may have been his jailor's daughter — who visited him
during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote
her a letter, which he signed 'From your Valentine,' an expression that
is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends
is murky, the stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic,
heroic, and, most importantly, romantic figure. It's no surprise that
by the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in
England and France.
While some believe that
Valentine's Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate
the anniversary of Valentine's death or burial — which probably
occurred around 270 A.D — others claim that the Christian church may
have decided to celebrate Valentine's feast day in the middle of
February in an effort to 'christianize' celebrations of the pagan
Lupercalia festival. In ancient Rome, February was the official
beginning of spring and was considered a time for purification. Houses
were ritually cleansed by sweeping them out and then sprinkling salt
and a type of wheat called spelt throughout their interiors.
Lupercalia, which began at the ides of February, February 15, was a
fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture,
as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.
To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman
priests, would gather at the sacred cave where the infants Romulus and
Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a
she-wolf or lupa. The priests would then sacrifice a goat, for
fertility, and a dog, for purification.
The boys then
sliced the goat's hide into strips, dipped them in the sacrificial
blood and took to the streets, gently slapping both women and fields of
crops with the goathide strips. Far from being fearful, Roman women
welcomed being touched with the hides because it was believed the
strips would make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the
day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place
their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would then each choose a
name out of the urn and become paired for the year with his chosen
woman. These matches often ended in marriage. Pope Gelasius declared
February 14 St. Valentine's Day around 498 A.D. The Roman 'lottery'
system for romantic pairing was deemed un-Christian and outlawed.
Later, during the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and
England that February 14 was the beginning of birds' mating season,
which added to the idea that the middle of February — Valentine's Day —
should be a day for romance. The oldest known valentine still in
existence today was a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his
wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his
capture at the Battle of Agincourt. The greeting, which was written in
1415, is part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in
London, England. Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V
hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to
Catherine of Valois.
In Great Britain, Valentine's
Day began to be popularly celebrated around the seventeenth century. By
the middle of the eighteenth century, it was common for friends and
lovers in all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or
handwritten notes. By the end of the century, printed cards began to
replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology.
Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions
in a time when direct expression of one's feelings was discouraged.
Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity
of sending Valentine's Day greetings. Americans probably began
exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s,
Esther A. Howland began to sell the first mass-produced valentines in
America.
According to the Greeting Card Association,
an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making
Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year.
(An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.)
Approximately
85 percent of all valentines are purchased by women. In addition to the
United States, Valentine's Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the
United Kingdom, France, and Australia.
Valentine
greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages (written
Valentine's didn't begin to appear until after 1400), and the oldest
known Valentine card is on display at the British Museum. The first
commercial Valentine's Day greeting cards produced in the U.S. were
created in the 1840s by Esther A. Howland. Howland, known as the Mother
of the Valentine, made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and
colorful pictures known as "scrap".
