A festival held in honor of Lupercus was paramount February 15th. The festival was paramount as a spring festival. Their calendar was separate at that time, with February falling in early springtime.
One of the customs of the young population was name-drawing. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man drew a slip. The girl whose name was chosen was to be his sweetheart for the year?
Valentine
Legend has it that the holiday became Valentine's Day after a minister named Valentine. Valentine was a minister in Rome at the time Christianity was a new religion. The Emperor at that time, Claudius Ii, ordered the Roman soldiers Not to marry or come to be engaged.
Claudius believed that as married men, his soldiers would want to stay home with their families rather than fight his wars. Valentine defied the Emperor's conclude and secretly married the young couples. He was at last arrested, imprisoned, and put to death.
Valentine was beheaded on February 14th, the eve of the Roman holiday Lupercalia. After his death, Valentine was named a saint. As Rome became more Christian, the priests moved the spring holiday from the 15th of February to the 14th - Valentine's Day. Now the holiday honored Saint Valentine instead of Lupercus.
But, this is just one side of the story...
So, who was Saint Valentine and how did he come to be connected with this old rite? Today, the Catholic Church recognizes at least three separate saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred.
One legend contends that Valentine was a minister who served while the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius Ii decided that singular men made best soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men -- his crop of inherent soldiers.
Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and prolonged to achieve marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.
Other stories recommend that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians leave harsh Roman prisons where they were often beaten and tortured.
According to one legend, Valentine unmistakably 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 while 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 unmistakably 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 beloved saints in England and France.
Valentine Day Myth
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