St. Valentine

The celebrations of February 14, day of St. Valentine, valentine's day as they have several possible explanations, some of Christian tradition, the other Roman tradition, pagan.


The Catholic Church recognizes three saints with the name Valentine, but the saint of lovers seems to have lived in the third century of our era, in Rome, and died a martyr in 270. In 496, Pope Gelásio reserved on February 14 to the cult of St. Valentine.

Valentine was a priest of contemporary Christian emperor Claudius II. Claudio wanted to be a great and powerful Roman army, unable to take many Romans to enlist, believed that because men did not have to leave their wives and families to leave for war. And the solution he found, was to prohibit marriages of young people! Valentine will have revolted against the imperial order, and helped by S. Mario, you have many pairs married in secret. When it was discovered, was arrested, tortured and beheaded on 14 February.

The legend has some variants that add details to this story. According to them, while Valentine was in prison was visited by the daughter of his guard, with whom she had long conversations and who became a friend. On the day of his death, have left him a note saying "From your Valentine."


As the pagan tradition, may merge with the history of the Christian martyr: in ancient Rome, was celebrated on February 15 (which, in the Roman calendar, roughly coincided with the beginning of spring) a festival, the Lupercalia. On the eve of that day, were placed in containers with pieces of paper the names of Roman girls. Each boy withdrawing a name, and that girl would be his "girlfriend" during the festival (or, in the year that followed).

With the gradual Christianization of the Roman custom, the festival of spring, celebrated the February 15, led the celebrations in honor of the saint, the 14th


There are also those who say that the custom of sending love messages today has no connection with the saint, dating from the Middle Ages, when you create the day on February 14 marked the beginning of mating season for birds.


With time, on February 14 was marked as the date for exchanging love messages between lovers, especially in England and France, and later the United States. In the latter country, where tradition is more institutionalized, the cards of S. Valentine were sold early in the nineteenth century. Today, the day of S. Valentine is celebrated in more countries around the world as a pretext for the couples of lovers to exchange gifts.