Hi everyone, it’s Jonathan again. As Valentine’s Day 2025 comes hot on our heels, I thought I’d regale you all with some of this holiday’s history. Let’s hop in!
While the history of Valentine’s Day has long been shrouded in history, we do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine’s Day as we know it contains vestiges of Christian and ancient Roman tradition. Speaking of which, who was St. Valentine, and why do we care? The Catholic Church itself recognizes three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend says 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 men with wives and soldiers, he outlawed marriage for young men. Seeing and recognizing this injustice, Valentine defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When his actions were discovered, Claudius had him put to death.
However, some others insist that the holiday’s true namesake is from St. Valentine of Terni, a bishop. He was also executed by Claudius II. Then there are other stories who insist that Valentine was killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were beaten and tortured. According to legend, an imprisoned Valentine sent the first “valentine” greeting himself after he fell in love with a young woman who visited him during his confinement. Before he died, it is said that he wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine,” an expression still used today. Though these stories and legends are all murky, they emphasize Valentine’s appeal as a sympathetic, heroic, and romantic figure. Sold yet, folks?
Well, you’ve heard only the Christian side of the story. Let’s Romanize this baby a bit. There are those who believe that the Church was trying to Christianize the Roman pagan celebration of Lupercalia, which is celebrated on the Ides of February. It was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. To start the festivities, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where Romulus and Remus were said to have been cared for by a she-wolf. They would then sacrifice a goat for fertility, and a dog for purification. They would then strip the goat’s hide into strips, dip them in sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping women and crop fields with the goat hide. Roman women actually welcomed this because it was believed to make them more fertile. According to legend, Roman women would place their names in an urn at the end of the day. The bachelors of Rome would then choose a name and become paired with his chosen woman. These matches would often end in marriage. So, there it is! Two different stories, yet the same holiday. Maybe when Valentine’s day comes, you’ll read my article to your special woman while sitting on goat hide rugs.
Whatever you choose, you do you! This is the one holiday to celebrate the special woman in your life, so if there’s one mandatory thing you should do, regardless of your belief on how this holiday started, just get her some chocolate covered strawberries and call it a day. Thanks again, Jonathan out.