Happy Saint Valentine’s Day

The history of Valentine’s Day

As with most holidays in the western world, Valentine’s Day is an occasion that borrows from ancient Roman tradition as well as the Catholic Church. Historians aren’t totally sure how true the various myths feeding into its traditions are, but they’re powerful stories nonetheless.

Here’s what we know: the holiday is named after three different saints recognized by the Catholic Church who were called Valentine or Valentinus. All of them were martyred by the Roman Empire.

The most famous of these saints was a priest who lived during the third century. At that time, the Roman Emperor Claudius had decreed that young men weren’t allowed to marry because he wanted them to be better soldiers. But Valentine understood that denying these young men the chance to have their own families was cruel. He chose to continue marrying young lovers secretly. When Claudius found out, he put the priest to death. St. Valentine died standing up for the right of people who loved each other to marry—isn’t that powerful?

So, why does Valentine’s Day happen on February 14th? Well, that’s probably because that’s when the ancient celebration of Lupercalia occurred. Lupercalia was a fertility festival for the Roman god of agriculture. The Church started holding a St. Valentine's feast on Lupercalia to make it a Christian event.

During Lupercali, Roman priests would gather in a sacred cave, and make animal sacrifices that they believed would enhance the fertility of the fields and women. Then, young women would place their names in a jar and the young men of the city would draw names. By the end of the day, many of these matches would end in marriage engagements. But all of these customs ended when the fifth-century pope Gelasius outlawed Lupercali, making St. Valentine’s Day the official occasion of February 14th.