The History of Valentine's Day

"From your Valentine"

It was as early as the fourth century B.C., the Romans engaged in an annual young man's ritual. The names of the teenage women were placed in a box and drawn at random by adolescent men; and a man was then assigned a woman for the duration of the year. After eight hundred years of this practice, the early church fathers sought to end it and they found an answer in Valentine, a bishop who had been martyred some two hundred years earlier.

According to church tradition St. Valentine was a priest near Rome in about the year 270 A.D. At that time the Roman Emperor Claudius-II who had issued an edict forbidding marriage.

Valentine, a bishop, seeing the young lovers, helped them to meet in a secret place, and married them. Claudius learned of this "friend of lovers," and had him arrested. The emperor, attempted to convert him to the roman Gods, to save him from certain execution. Valentine refused to recognize Roman Gods and even attempted to convert the emperor, knowing the consequences!. On February 24, 270, Valentine was executed.

Did you know that While Valentine was in prison awaiting his fate, he came in contact with his jailor, Asterius. The jailor had a blind daughter. Asterius requested him to heal his daughter. Through his faith he miraculously restored the sight of Asterius' daughter. Just before his execution, he asked for a pen and paper from his jailor, and signed a farewell message to her "From Your Valentine," a phrase that lived ever after.

Valentine became a Patron Saint, The festival involved young Romans offering women they admired, a handwritten message of affection on February 14. The greeting cards acquired St.Valentine's name.

The Valentine's Day card spread with Christianity, and is now celebrated all over the world. One of the earliest card was sent in 1415 by Charles, duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London. The card is now preserved in the British Museum.