Valentines day has undergone a major transformation through the centuries. Originating in 5th Century Rome as a tribute to a Catholic bishop by the name of St. Valentine, we now celebrate the day of February 14 exclusively as a lovers’ holiday, a special time when we freely express the love we share for one another.
Eight hundred years prior to the establishment of Valentine’s Day, a pagan celebration practiced by the Romans in mid-February was taking place. This pagan celebration commemorated a young mans rite of passage to the god Lupercus. This celebration featured a lottery in which the young men would draw the name of a teenage girl from a box. The girl drawn, would become the sexual companion during the rest of the year for the man drawing.
…a tradition for the men to sign their messages of affection and love containing Valentines’ name.
Pope Gelasius, wanting to do away with the pagan festival, ordered a change in the lottery. Instead of young womens’ names, the box would now contain the names of saints. Now both men and women could draw from the box. The idea was to emulate the ways of the saint drawn from the box for the rest of the year.
The Church, wanting to do away with the pagan god Lupercus, searched for a suitable patron saint to represent love. They found it in Valentine, who had been beheaded in 270 AD by Emperor Claudius.to take his place.
Claudius banned marriage during his reign under the assumption that married men were poor soldiers. Valentine would marry men and women that came to him in secret. When Claudius became aware of Valentines’ work, he unsuccessfully attempted to convert him to paganism. Reversing the strategy, Valentine sought to convert Claudius. When Valentine failed, he was stoned and beheaded.
While Valentine was imprisoned, he fell in love with the daughter of his jailer, who happened to be blind. Through his love for her, and his great faith, he managed to heal her from the blindness she suffered before his eventual death. Before being taken to his death, Valentine signed a farewell message to the woman he loved, “From your Valentine.” This phrase has been used on Valentines Day ever since.
While the lottery had been banned by the Church, the mid-February holiday commemorating St. Valentine was practiced by Roman men seeking the affection of their chosen woman. This developed into a tradition for the men to sign their messages of affection and love containing Valentines’ name.
Out of this practice, the first Valentine card appeared. It was sent in 1415 by Charles, duke of Orleans to his wife while imprisoned in the Tower of London.
Often appearing on Valentine cards is Cupid, the son of Venus, the Roman god of love and beauty.
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