Today, I was asked if my partner and I were doing anything special for “Valentines Day.”

“No,” I scoffed. “I’m not Catholic.”

“Huh?” I got in response. Apparently, my friend was unaware that “Valentines Day” was, in fact “St. Valentine’s Day”; on which a variety of martyred saints were once venerated.

So, ever wondered who St Valentine was? Or why he is associated with secret and romantic love? Were you like my friend and had no idea that 14th February was even a saint’s day? Here’s the low down (though I cannot guarantee that all questions will be answered);

Who?

The Catholic Church’s Martyrology (list of martyred saints) contains reference to three men who were venerated on February 14th, before 1969. Though they are still listed as saints, they are no longer venerated, on a whole, by the Catholic Church; too little is known about them, for certain. There is also a, probably fictional, account of a St Valentine associated with the celebrations in February.

The first man is Valentinus the Presbyter (an elder priest) of Rome who was martyred around AD 269. The Roman Emperor Claudius had him arrested, perhaps at the behest of other, less evangelical Christians, perhaps because he was illegally marrying Christian couples at a time when Christians were being heavily persecuted. He was supposedly interrogated by the Emperor himself. Valentinus actually befriended the Emperor and out of kindness, Claudius asked him to convert to paganism, to save his life. Not only did Valentinus refuse to convert, he tried to move Claudius over to the Christian way of thinking. This, apparently, was too much. The Emperor had his new friend beaten, stoned and beheaded, though not before Valentinus could secure his position as a saint by miraculously curing the jailer’s blind daughter, according to the Venerable Bede. He was buried on the Via Flaminia; a road leading from Rome, across Italy, to the Adriatic Sea.

The second Saint Valentine to be associated with this day is Valentinus of Terni. Like Valentinus of Rome, he was persecuted by a Roman Emperor. This time it was Aurelianus. This emperor wanted to unify the whole of Rome under one solar deity, while still allowing people to worship their own gods. This rather upset the Christians, who as often happens, were all too vocal about their own One God. Valentinus was martyred in AD 197 and is also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a completely different place to the first. To ensure his status as a saint, this Valentinus cured a crippled child through faith alone.

The final St Valentine is barely a footnote in the Catholic Church’s history. He died in Africa, with his friends/followers.

The most likely fictional St Valentine comes to us from Belarussian mythology. He was a man who fell in love with a princess. Alas, his love was doomed for she was betrothed to a Russian prince. Though spurned, his love burnt on strong. So strong in fact, that not only was he able to cut out and send his heart to the princess, but it was still beating when it arrived. Love hurts?

Why?

14th February is now celebrated all over the world as a day for people to show each other how much they love someone. From Catholic Spain, to Anglican Britain to Shinto Japan, people swap cards, flowers and chocolate on Valentines Day (dropping the ‘St’).

Unfortunately, these practices cannot be linked to the Catholic martyrs. The men had nothing to do with romantic love. Though there are reports that the Presbyter was arrested for marrying Christian couples in secret this part of the story is not found in anything written before 1493, when it appears in the Nuremberg Chronicle; an early printed history of the world. In fact, nothing of these men can be truly traced back beyond Medieval European writings beyond their names and deaths. This is not to say that these things are not true, simply that they cannot be proven.

It was not until the popularity of ‘courtly love’ grew in Europe that people began to celebrate St Valentine’s Day as a day of secret love. The Belarussian myth likely grew out of the  practice of sending notes and gifts to distant lovers, rather than the other way around. After all, how could a spurned lover cutting out his own heart in Belaruse, lead to the English and the French sending quaint little notes to the person they loved?

It is possible that St Valentine’s Day became a lovers’ day simply because of the time of year it was situated in; Spring. A time of ‘twitterpation;’ something Chaucer picked up on (and he is generally blamed for the celebrations) in his fictional traditions of his Parliament of Foules;

For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.

This claim for the beginnings of Valentines Day has been disputed on the idea that mid-February is too early for birds to be mating in Britain… though no one ever tried to claim that the people of Medieval Europe based much of their world view on the facts, and while February is VERY early spring, it is still spring.

This, alas, is the closest we have to an explanation for what appears to be the sudden appearance of a celebration of love on the saints’ day in February. It is not an excellent explanation, that it was writers and courtiers that linked St Valentine’s Day with romantic love, but is is the best we have so far.

And Now?

 In the present day, Valentines Day is not only far removed from the quaint sending of love notes that began in Medieval Europe, but it is not even understood as a day once used to venerate three separate saints named Valentinus. Who do we have to thank/blame (depending on your point of view) for this twist?

The mid nineteenth century saw the impending signs of commercialisation when Esther Howland of Worcester, Massachusetts created the first mass-produced ‘valentines’ (love notes) for an American audience. The practice was already well established in Europe, but it was the vim of the American capitalist ideal that really turned it into what it is today; mostly a day for singles to mourn their singledom as everyone else around them announces their undying love for their partner or forces chocolate through a classmates letter-box.

Is this a bad thing? Is it a good thing? Should we hark back to quainter times and return to hand written, personal valentines? Or is it good to have a day where everyone feels they should be nice to one another, just because?

Well, that’s not for me to tell you.