History of Valentine's Day
valentines day history
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly known as Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine,1.is observed on February 14 each year.
It is celebrated in many countries around the world, although it remains a working day in most of them.
St. Valentine's Day began as a liturgical celebration of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus. The most popular martyrology
associated with Saint Valentine was that he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering
to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire. During his imprisonment, he is said to have healed the daughter of his jailer, Asterius.
Legend states that before his execution he wrote her a letter "from your Valentine" as a farewell.
2.Today, Saint Valentine's Day is an official
feast day in the Anglican Communion,
3. as well as in the Lutheran Church.
4. The Eastern Orthodox Church also celebrates Saint Valentine's Day,
albeit on July 6th and July 30th, the former date in honor of the Roman presbyter Saint Valentine, and the latter date in honor of Hieromartyr
Valentine, the Bishop of Interamna (modern Terni).
The day was first associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love
flourished. In 18th-century England, it evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers,
offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). Valentine's Day symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped
outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards.
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Saint Valentine's Day
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Also called
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Valentine's Day
Feast of Saint Valentine
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Observed by
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People in many countries;
Anglican Communion (seecalendar), Eastern Orthodox
Church (see calendar),Lutheran Church (seecalendar)
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Type
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Significance
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Date
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February 14 (fixed by the Western Christian Churches); July 6
(fixed by the Eastern Christian Churches)
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Observances
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Sending greeting cards and gifts, dating, church services
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historical facts
Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine. The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome (Valentinus presb. m. Romae)
and Valentine of Terni (Valentinus ep. Interamnensis m. Romae). Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was martyred about
AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. The flower-crowned skull[9] of St Valentine is exhibited in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin,
Rome. Other relics are found in the Basilica of Santa Prassede,also in Rome, as well as at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland.
Valentine of Terni became bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) about AD 197 and is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurel
(Basilica di San Valentino). The Catholic Encyclopedia also speaks of a third saint named Valentine who was mentioned in early martyrologies under date
of February 14. He was martyred in Africa with a number of companions, but nothing more is known about him.Saint Valentine's head was preserved in
the abbey of New Minster, Winchester, and venerated.
saints in the Anglican Communion. In addition, the feast day of Saint Valentine is also given in the calendar of saints of the Lutheran Church.
However, in the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints, the feast day of Saint Valentine on February 14 was removed from the General
Roman Calendar and relegated to particular (local or even national) calendars for the following reason: "Though the memorial of Saint Valentine is ancient,
it is left to particular calendars, since, apart from his name, nothing is known of Saint Valentine except that he was buried on the Via Flaminia on
February 14."[14] The feast day is still celebrated in Balzan (Malta) where relics of the saint are claimed to be found, and also throughout the world
by Traditionalist Catholics who follow the older, pre-Second Vatican Council calendar. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, St. Valentine's Day is celebrated
on July 6th, in which Saint Valentine, the Roman presbyter, is honoured; furthermore, the Eastern Orthodox Church obsesrves the feast of Hieromartyr
Valentine, Bishop of Interamna, on July 30th.
