The True Story Behind St Valentine- Saint Of Love

The exact birth of this extraordinary saint is
historically unknown but we known from available
records was that he was a Catholic priest during the
reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius II during the
3rd century.

The Roman Emperor Claudius II was involved in
many bloody and unpopular war campaigns to get
more men to join his army. He believed at the time
that the reason why he was finding it difficult to get
men to join the military was that the Roman men
were very dedicated to their wives and family. As a
result, Claudius forbid the rites of marriages and
engagements in Rome.
St Valentine was a priest in Rome during his reign. He
and St Marius ignored the official order and
performed secret marriages of some loving couples
for this deed. He was arrested and dragged before
the Prefect of Rome who condemned him to a Three
part execution of beating, stoning and to be beaten to
death with his head cut off.
He is reputed to have suffered martyrdom having
been beaten to death on the 14th of February about
the year AD270 during the papacy of Pope Felix I.
February 14th, the day he was martyed became his
feast day in accordance with the ancient Catholic
tradition of making a Saints death his feast day.
Legend had it that on the day before his execution, he
left a farewell note for the jailer's daughter whom
had become his friend and signed it "From your
valentine".
At that time in Rome, an ancient custom which dates
back to the 3rd century was been celebrated in the
month of February. The festival which was called
"Lupercalia" in honour of Juno, queen of the Roman
gods and goddess, was also known as the goddess of
women, love and marriage.
On this occasion, pagan ceremonies were been held
in which young men would choose names of maidens
to be their partners during the celebration. This was
usually sealed with a gift exchange.
The early church which transforms pagan festivals by
giving them Christian meaning, decided to do away
with the pagan element which was eroding the faith
of the early Christians by substituting the names of
saints for those pagan gods and goddess.
In 496AD, Pope Gelasius (An African Pope and the
last Arican Pope) set aside Feb 14th to honour St
Valentine who was beheaded because of his love for
the Lord and his people.
Through the centuries the Christian holiday became a
time to exchange love messages and St. Valentine
became the patron saint of lovers. He is the patron
saint of engaged couples and of anyone wishing to
marry. Valentine are sent as signs of devotion of true
lovers, friendship between friends and gestures
towards the poor and one's loved ones.
In our Modern era, The question facing us is are we
really practising the true love as exhibited by St
Valentine the man behind the festival we now
celebrate or are we just celebrating another form of
what some may call NEO-PAGANISM, a return back
to the early pagans.