The Story of Saint Valentine

Many people know Valentine’s Day as a day about love and couples, commonly associated with hearts, and let’s never forget chocolates and flowers. It’s a widely celebrated holiday around the world and is known as the most romantic day of the year.

There are many possible stories about how Valentine’s Day came to be, but none can be confirmed by scholars.

According to History.com, variations include the story of St. Valentine, who was said to be a Catholic Roman Priest in the 3rd century who would go behind the backs of the authorities and marry Christian couples. He eventually met his fate on February 14, 268 AD, but not before healing his captor’s blind daughter, which caused his family to convert to Christianity. Before his death, he sent the daughter a note, signing it “Your Valentine” at the bottom.

If the story of Valentine’s Day couldn’t get more confusing, it’s possible the one person who inspired the idea was two people. History.com also says another account of Valentine stated he was the Bishop of Terni, who was martyred–killed for having separate religious beliefs–for also wedding couples on February 14, 273 AD.

Due to the similarity of both these possible accounts, most say it’s entirely possible they could be the same person. However, the confusion surrounding the one true St. Valentine, caused Catholic Churches to stop honoring him in 1969, but his name is still on the list of recognized Saints, according to History.com

To cause more confusion for scholars, the name “Valentine” was very popular in the 3rd-8th centuries AD. In fact, several Valentine’s over those centuries met their fate the same way–martyring. To make it less confusing, St. Valentine is the official name for the person we celebrate on Valentine’s Day, as a way to separate him from the rest.

With all these stories of how we came to celebrate Valentine’s Day, according to History.com, it wasn’t until the late Dark Ages–the late 14th century–when English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote his poem Parliament of Foals that the day became associated with love.

The poem was published in his widely-known book The Canterbury Tales and describes “a group of birds in the early days of spring, gathered on ‘seynt valentynes day’, to find their new mates of the year,” according to The British Library.

There is too much to the story of St. Valentine to get a full grasp or real picture of how this special day came to be, but this shouldn’t change the views of how people celebrate it. It’s still a day of joy and meant to be about the love you feel for the people in your life