Valentine
The most
famous
Valentine, for
whom the day
is most lihelii
named, was a
priest in third
century Rome.
Americans will spend almost
$500 million this year on
Valentine’s Day presents
and cards honoring a tradition
Shrouded in mystery
No one is sure how St. Valen
tine’s Day got started, or even
who St Valentine was Some his
torians say there may have been
as many as 20 early Christian
martyrs and saints with the name
Valentine Others pot the number
variously a! eight, three or one.
Little is known about any of the
Valentines, or even it they really
existed The few known tacts
about their lives are so interwo
ven with folklore and legend that
it is impossible to tell fact from fic
tion
The most famous Valentine, for
whom the day is most likely
named, was a priest in third cen
tury Rome. Legend has it that
Emperor Claudius II could not
recruit enough soldiers for battle
Men did not want to leave their
wives and sweethearts and
refused to go. To stop this.
Claudius decreed that no more
marnages could be performed
and canceled all engagements
St. Valentine defied this ban,
secretly marrying several cou
ples. When the emperor found
out, be jailed the priest
Behind bars. St Valentine fur
ther angered Claudius by miracu
lously restoring sight to his jailor's
blind daughter At Claudius' com
mand, St Valentine was beaten
and beheaded A variation on the
story has Valentine falling in love
with the daughter and signing his
letters to her. "Your Valentine ”
The body of St. Valentine is sup
posedly interred at St. Praxedis
Cathedral in Rome, with his head
not far away at the cathedral of St
Sebastian. Whether the remains
are authentic is doubtful. Other
remains allegedly belonging to one
or more St. Valentines are in
churches in France. Belgium and
T heones about bow St Valeo
tine's Day came to be celebrated
as a day tor lovers are varied
The holiday was first popularly
celebrated in England during the
early middle ages, where folk
wisdom of the time held that birds
chose their mates Feb. 14
Chaucer made reference to this
belief in his "Parliament of Fouls"
when he wrote: "For this was
sent Valentine's Day when every
foul cometh there to choose his
mate."
This belief, quaint as it may
seem, was transferred to this
country where it survived until the
early part of this century among
the inhabitants of the Ozark
Mountains Feb. 14, they
believed, was not only the day
birds mated, but the “real"
Groundhog Day, when a ground
hog glimpsing his shadow meant
six more weeks of winter and
also the best day of the year to
plant lettuce.
Another theory says the asso
ciation between St. Valentine and
love has a linguistic base. At one
time, the letters “V" and "G" were
interchangeable in common
speech. The Norman word
"galantin," meaning a lover of
women, was written and spoken
variously as "valantin" and
"valentin.”
Others say Valentine's Day is
the Christianized form of the
ancient Roman feast of Luper
calia. celebrated Feb. 14. One of
the rituals of the feast was the
drawing of young women's
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