Everyone in America knows of Valentine’s Day, but not too many people know the backstory behind it. HerCampus today has brought the man, the myth, the legend, St. Valentine, to tell us the origins behind “St.” Valentine’s Day.
HC: Saint Valentine, thank you so much for joining us today! I understand the traffic between heaven and earth can be hectic.
St. Valentine: If you think LA traffic is bad, just wait! You won’t believe how many people are trying to go see their Earth relatives. But we do have a high-speed train that make the journey smoother
HC: Awesome. Well, St. Valentine, let’s start with the basics? Who are you?
St. Valentine: Well, it was so long ago I barely remember, and your history isn’t too sure either. But my full name is St. Valentine of Rome. I was a Roman Catholic priest in the thirteenth century. I’m the patron saint of young people, love, engaged couples, etc.
HC: Love, young people…are those connected to what you accomplished on Earth?
St. Valentine: You got it. During the reign of Emperor Claudius the 2nd, he banned marriage between young people. He thought unmarried soldiers fought better and more fearlessly than married soldiers because married soldiers would be more worried about what would happen to their wife, kids, if they died ya know. Well, I thought this was wrong, and the whole polymogy thing that was rampant throughout society at the time. So I secretly married young couples.
HC: Well, that was very sweet of you.
St. Valentine: Oh thanks, but what wasn’t sweet is what happened to me next.
HC: What happened?
St. Valentine: I got caught. Let that be a warning to all you kids-if one of God’s most holy peeps can’t get away with it, neither can you.
HC: Warning taken. Were you executed immediately after you were caught?
St. Valentine; C’mon, your whole judicial system is based on us Romans! No there was a trial first, of course.
HC: But you were found guilty?
St. Valentine: Yes, but not before I inspired one of your most beloved traditions.
HC: And that is?
St. Valentine: One of the judges, Asterius, had a blind daughter. I prayed over her, and she received sight. Asterius was so amazed he became a Christian himself. Anyway, that’s not the tradition I inspired. But right before I was executed, I left her a letter that was signed, “Love, your Valentine.”
HC: So that’s why we sign “Your Valentine”!
St. Valentine: Yep. Should have copyrighted it.
HC: But why do we celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14th?
St. Valentine: It’s my feast day.
HC: Do you know when it transitioned from your feast day to a day of lovers?
St. Valentine: You mean when they stole my thunder? Well, people have been exchanging valentines since the 1400s. But it really took off in America in the 1840s when Esther A. Howland began selling mass-produced valentines. Over a billion of those suckers get sent every year.
HC: Nevertheless, St. Valentine, you certainly left your mark on this world!
St. Valentine: Yeah, yeah… just remember while you’re at your fancy dinners and oodling at diamond necklaces, I was imprisoned, beaten, and beheaded. Hallmark doesn’t tell you that!
HC: History seems to choose which narrative to remember.
St. Valentine: Amen to that! …Can I go now? The train’s about to leave soon, and they’re serving fried chicken for dinner.
HC: Of course! I have my own valentines to deliver.
St. Valentine: If I had a nickel for every time….
HC: Thanks for joining us, St. Valentine!