by M. Lee

Created on: February 15, 2010

The History of St. Valentine’s Day Traditions

Every year on the 14th of February we celebrate St. Valentine’s Day which focuses on love and affection between romantic companions.  Every year, skeptics argue that the holiday is a tradition invented by greeting card companies to make a quick buck.  It is commonly associated with the group of holidays known as “Hallmark holidays.”  But is that really the case?  What is the history of St. Valentine’s Day and its corresponding conditions?

First of all, St. Valentine’s Day is named after one ore more early Christian martyrs named Valentine though it is not definitively named after any particular one.  In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius I declared it a holiday.  It first became associated with romantic love in the High Middle Ages, when courtly love was at its height, with the work of Chaucer.

Traditionally, the holiday involves lovers expressing their love for each other through the exchange of valentines (greeting cards or love notes), confections, jewelry, and flowers.  Modern symbols of St. Valentines include hearts, winged Cupid cherubs, doves, and mass-produced valentines and greeting cards.  So where did these traditions come from?

Who was St. Valentine anyway?

The holiday is named after a few people named Valentine, so who were these people?  The Valentines honored include Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni.  The former was a priest in Rome that was martyred in 269 AD.  The latter was bishop of Interamna, which is what we now know as Terni.  He was martyred during the persecution by Emperor Aurelian.  Both are buried on the Via Flaminia.  There is also speculation that a third Valentine is honored by the holiday.  There is very little known about this person except that he was likely martyred on the 14th of February in Africa with a number of others.

Originally, romantic love was not an element of Valentine’s Day and nothing is mentioned in the biographies of any of these honored individuals.  It wasn’t until the 14th century that romantic love became an integral part of observing the holiday.  Scholars theorize that love became associated with the holiday because it was thought that Valentine was a priest that refused a law attributed to Claudius II, emperor of Rome.  Claudius thought that married men made poor soldiers so he wanted to require that all young men remain single. 

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