The Real Saint Valentine
It’s February 14th again. Men are making dinner reservations, buying flowers and chocolate. Women are getting dressed up, applying make up, and putting up their hair. Some old rituals have even been blended with new ones: you can now do Valentine’s Day sudoku puzzles! It’s an annual ritual. But where did this ritual come from? And who was St. Valentine anyway?
There were several St. Valentine’s who could possibly be the origin of our current holiday. Two of them, one a priest and one a bishop, were both martyred by the Emperor Claudius II during the Roman empire when Christianity was persecuted. Another was a bishop in Africa about whom even less is known.
Our best guess is that Valentinus was a priest who lived during the reign of Claudius II. Claudius II was engaged in many unpopular wars and decided that his soldiers would fight better if they remained single, therefore, Claudius II banned marriage and cancelled all engagements. Valentinus assisted Christians during the persecutions and married couples despite the ban. For this he was apprehended and thrown into prison. When he refused to acknowledge Jupiter and Juno and renounce Jesus, he was sentenced to death, and executed on February 14th, 269.
It is said that the jailer, a man named Asterius, brought his blind daughter Julia to Valentinus, seeing that he was a man of learning, that she might have lessons while he was awaiting execution. In the course of her lessons, Julia’s sight was restored and both Julia and Asterius were converted to Christianity. This eventually resulted in both of their executions by Claudius II as well. According to legend, a pink almond tree, a symbol of abiding love, blossomed near St. Valentine’s grave. He made such an impression on Roman Christians that they erected a basilica at his burial place on the Flaminian Way.
The secular roots of St. Valentine’s Day lie in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, which was celebrated on Feb. 15. For 800 years the Romans had dedicated this day to the god Lupercus. During this festival, a young man would draw the name of a young woman from a jar and would then keep the woman as a sexual companion for the year.
Pope Gelasius I was less than thrilled with this custom. He changed the lottery to have both young men and women draw the names of saints whom they would then emulate for the year. Instead of Lupercus, the patron of the feast became Valentinus. For Roman men, the day continued to be an occasion to seek the affections of women, and it became a tradition to give out handwritten messages of admiration that included Valentinus’ name.
In the 4th century Pope Julius I built a church in honor of Valentine. In the 7th century Pope Honorius I restored it and it became a very popular pilgrimage site. The confusion about the exact origins of St. Valentine’s day led the Roman Catholic Church to drop the holiday from its official calendar in 1969, although the holiday remains very popular.
