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 Turn to ORIGINS, Page I IB Solutions from your Apple Campus Reseller: Tho Appto Computer Loan. f “\Yhv should I wait in line at the for '] monthy Kevin Campbell VrnsjMh i Fngituvntqi Major What allowed Kevin to own an Apple' Mac intosh* PowerBook NS computer for such a low monthly payment? The Apple Computer Loan! Kevin knew that owning the power and portability of a Mac intosh PowerBook for his full course load and his work in the Civil .Air Patrol was a smart thing to do. And the Apple Computer loan was the smart way to do it: easy application, fast turnaround and low, flexible payment terms. So Kevin went to the only place that offers the Apple Computer Loan, his Apple Campus Reseller. Macintosh. It’s more than a present, it’s a future. Microcomputer Support Center 202 Gimputing Center Mondav-Friday, 9am - 5pm 3464402 ft C W2 \(vk t * «npuIt* Apple the Sppir H* mujnr rc*mcfvd cradmuta AprirCompmeylamMt5%Bt|(a>e«t»^ t » IZ42 ftw^ptymmtmfyfcrtfcfenaJuptoivev* H TVmKfeM (ar**«Vtfe.ariihtaicdaRment»ipujxt e*toa»fepomtlm thel1jC Siwwiftmmui plu»ji spreadof ^ft < $A% m* incuetM A A' The tern of «hr fcun a A *ran »«h nu prt pwtnrni pmjfr\ The tool trance charpeif A