Valentine’s Day, Why is It One of History’s Greatest Mysteries?

The one person responsible for starting Valentine’s Day has remained shrouded in mystery for centuries. Numerous contenders for the honor were executed or died while incarcerated in Roman prisons on February 14, 269 A.D. They all bear the name Valentine, only one of which is the true, elusive St. Valentine. The Catholic Church recognizes at least three persons named Valentine’s as martyred saints, and we will probably never know which one is the rightful owner of that title.

There are several versions of the origin of Valentine’s Day. The most likely of which is that it was the pagan fertility celebration of the festival of Lupercalia, which was celebrated by the Roman Order of Priests, the Luperci. These priests held their annual February festival and feast at the sacred cave of Romulus and Remus. (This is the cave in which the she-wolf found the two boys as infants and raised them as her own offspring.) Men and boys attending the festival dipped strips of goat hide in sacrificial blood and then ran through the streets of Rome slapping any females who got within arm’s length. The women and girls considered being slapped by this bloody thong, an honor, and essential for successful child bearing for the next year. They would brazenly place themselves in the paths of these men and boys for that purpose.

The love lottery  is another name for this ancient celebration on February 14. All the single Christian women would put their names into an urn to be drawn by the city’s bachelors. The person, whose name was drawn, became his partner for the rest of the festival. Each man or woman, would wear the name of the person he or she was paired with on his or her sleeve for the entire week. This is where the expression, “Wearing your heart on your sleeve” came from. This pairing often lasted for the rest of the year, and more often than not, resulted in marriage. Around 496 A.D., Pope Gelasius made this an official day of Christian celebration.

Another version of the origin of Valentine’s Day, is that February 14  is the beginning of the birds’ mating season, and is a natural day for romance.

Other versions revolve around martyred saints in the 3rd century. These saints were all imprisoned and died around February 14, in 269 A. D. for various reasons. All were Roman priests who fell out of favor with the government authorities. One such St. Valentine was beheaded for refusing to give up Christianity. Another St. Valentine, who helped prisoners escape the Roman prisons was, imprisoned for this crime. Another St. Valentine, a priest who secretly married couples after Emperor Claudius ll decided that marriage made a man weak, and outlawed it for the future of his army, was executed in prison. And another St. Valentine contender was the Roman bishop of Terni, who died in Africa, defending Christianity.

Around 1835, remains believed to be those of the original St. Valentine were given to an Irish priest and are still on public display at the Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin, Ireland.

The occurrence of the first valentine love letter is just as mysterious as the person who started the whole thing. The popular story is that one of the St. Valentines is said to have fallen in love with the blind daughter of his prison warden after he restored her sight. Right before he was executed, he sent her a love letter signed with the words, “From your Valentine.”

Charles, Duke of Orleans, is reported as being the one who sent the first true valentine to his wife, around 1415, after he was captured in the Battle of Agincourt and imprisoned in the Tower of London. This historic valentine is on display at the British Library in London. Then sometime in the middle of the 18th century, modern lovers began exchanging cards, flowers, candy, and other tokens of love and friendship.

We may never know the identity of the real St. Valentine. But then a little mystery adds intrigue, and piques the curiosity of us all. When you send that love note to your beloved, give at least a passing thought to the real St. Valentine, whoever he was.