“The rose is red, the violet’s blue,
The honey’s sweet, and so are you.
Thou art my love and I am thine;
I drew thee to my Valentine:
The lot was cast and then I drew,
And Fortune said it shou’d be you.”
Roses and chocolates, jewels and kisses; everything about St Valentine’s Day is incredibly romantic.
However, this loved festivity has a rather dark origin, a story that makes it, nonetheless, tender, passionate, and awfully loving.
The day dedicated to love was born as a Christian festivity revering a martyr called Valentine. Neither the Church nor documents can actually attest whether this man has existed or not; nevertheless, it is stated that three different saints with this name have indeed lived long ago, all of whom have regretfully had quite unfortunate deaths.
Valentine was said to be from Umbria (a region in Italy) and a priest or perhaps a bishop. He is described as someone who defied both paganism and the law, making his figure even more intriguing, especially considering the fact that he lived under the reign of a quite severe Roman Emperor—Claudius II.
During this piece of history, life among the citizens of the great Roman Empire was not described in the most upstanding manner. The Caput Mundi was portrayed as a city where immoral behaviour ruled, promiscuity was everywhere, and there weren’t any forms of boundaries. A difficult period indeed, aggravated, however, even more by numerous invasions towards the capital, which prompted Claudius to send as many men as possible to war. But, as I said, this emperor was a rather strict ruler, someone who needed his army to respect his every order. And in such an arduous century—along with a very interesting law that fundamentally guaranteed a married man to abstain from becoming a soldier—Claudius was bound to break. He, in fact, came to a very funny conclusion. In his mind, one of the main culprits for the lack of morale in his men was marriage itself. He was convinced that a wife and family made men nostalgic, an archnemesis during war. Therefore, he did one of the most foolish things in the chapters of our history. He banned the holy matrimony. He outlawed nuptials, essentially love itself.
We must remember that, unlike nowadays, wedlock was the only way two lovers could be with each other. Prohibiting marriage meant destroying not only couples but also the deep affection they felt for one another.
At the rescue of this chaotic situation came a priest called Valentine, who defied Claudius’ law by performing ceremonies for young sweethearts in secret. Eventually he was discovered and sentenced to death, but another version of this legend says that once in prison, Valentine befriended his jailer, Asterius, presenting him a gospel of his faith. The man, intrigued, brought him one of his adopted daughters, who was described to be blind, but the girl healed suddenly as soon as the priest laid hands upon her skull.
A very moving detail of the tale narrates that he was supposedly in love with the jailer’s daughter and that on the day of his beheading, February 14th, he left her a letter signed “Your Valentine”, thus becoming the very first valentine card.
It’s quite heartbreaking, or is it just me?
From then on, his figure is simply shrouded in mystery, even though he became one of the most adored saints in France and England during the Middle Ages. As of the 21st century, we do not know for sure when this special day turned romantic. Like I wrote about in my previous article on Lupercalia, some historians attribute the two festivities to one another. Pope Gelasius I did replace the pagan holiday with a Christian one, proclaiming February 14th as the day dedicated to St Valentine; however, others affirm they are not connected at all, making its origins a little bit confusing for all of us.
It would be a 14th-century poem by Geoffrey Chaucer, The Parliament of Fouls, where Valentine’s Day was first recognised as a romantic celebration. The romance was fuelled even more by the love season of animals in early spring, like lovebirds, and the 17th-century custom in England where people began expressing their feelings for their lovers by giving flowers, confectionaries, and greeting cards called valentines.
Over time, the fame around this day grew to the splendid celebration it is today—of course, not without the help of the media. Valentine’s Day is the most common anniversary date, the one when thousands of couples get married each year, and unfortunately a despised fête as well.
For the ones in a loving relationship, I wish you all the best.
For the singles, don’t worry; there are countless variations and holidays around the world you could celebrate instead of Valentine’s Day. The Black Day and Pepero Day are just two of them. They might not be the days dedicated to love, but they sure are fun.
And then, there’s always me, my loves.
I may not be the person of your dreams, but I’ll definitely make your world spin.
XOXO,
Your Valentine
Up, The Morning of St. Valentine by John Callcott Horsley (1865)
Sources:
Valentine’s Day: The Unbelievable History You Didn’t Know
The Library of the Unseen 
Beautiful description of my sign! Thank you ☺️ 😘😘