The Origins of St. Valentine’s Day
A quick quiz: St. Valentine was:
a) a priest in the Roman Empire who helped persecuted Christians during the reign of Claudius II, was thrown in jail and later beheaded on Feb. 14.
b) a Catholic bishop of Terni who was beheaded, also during the reign of Claudius II.
c) someone who secretly married couples when marriage was forbidden, or suffered in Africa, or wrote letters to his jailer's daughter, and was probably beheaded.
d) all, some, or possibly none of the above.
If you guessed d), give yourself a box of chocolates. Although
the mid-February holiday celebrating love and lovers remains wildly popular, the
confusion over its origins led the Catholic Church, in 1969, to drop St.
Valentine's Day from the Roman calendar of official, worldwide Catholic feasts.
(Those highly sought-after days are reserved for saints with more clear
historical record. After all, the saints are real individuals for us to
imitate.) Some parishes, however, observe the feast of St. Valentine.
The roots of St. Valentine's Day lie in the ancient Roman
festival of Lupercalia, which was celebrated on Feb. 15. For 800 years the
Romans had dedicated this day to the god Lupercus. On Lupercalia, a young man
would draw the name of a young woman in a lottery and would then keep the woman
as a sexual companion for the year.
Pope Gelasius I was, understandably, less than thrilled with
this custom. So he changed the lottery to have both young men and women draw the
names of saints whom they would then emulate for the year (a change that no
doubt disappointed a few young men). Instead of Lupercus, the patron of the
feast became Valentine. For Roman men, the day continued to be an occasion to
seek the affections of women, and it became a tradition to give out handwritten
messages of admiration that included Valentine's name.
There was also a conventional belief in Europe during the
Middle Ages that birds chose their partners in the middle of February. Thus the
day was dedicated to love, and people observed it by writing love letters and
sending small gifts to their beloved. Legend has it that Charles, duke of
Orleans, sent the first real Valentine card to his wife in 1415, when he was
imprisoned in the Tower of London. (He, however, was not beheaded, and died a
half-century later of old age.)
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