Happy Valentine's Day: Who was St Valentine and why do we celebrate on February 14?

Valentine's Day: Valentine's Day is thought to have been named in honour of Saint Valentine, a third-century Roman Catholic priest who died on February 14 in 270 AD

By: Lifestyle Desk

New Delhi | February 13, 2023 09:10 AM IST

3 min read

Valentine's Day is thought to have been named in honour of Saint Valentine (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Happy Valentine’s Day: Every year, Valentine’s Day is celebrated with incredible zeal, excitement and love all over the globe. And, why not! This day serves as a reminder to cherish and celebrate the most beautiful emotion we experience – love. While so much about the day is already known, have you ever wondered why it is called what it is called, and why is it celebrated on February 14?

Valentine’s Day is thought to have been named in honour of Saint Valentine, a third-century Roman Catholic priest who died on February 14 in 270 AD. Others say the celebrations began as an attempt by the Church to ‘Christianise’ the Lupercalia holiday. The Roman celebration honoured Faunus, the god of agriculture, as well as Romulus and Remus, the Roman founders. Men would pick names of women from a box, and they would become a couple through the event. This could even lead to marriage in some cases. Pope Gelasius picked the period of Lupercalia celebrations as the day to remember Saint Valentine towards the end of the 5th century, resulting in the association of Valentine’s Day with love and romance.

According to many historical records, the saint whose name is associated with the festival could have been more than one man. Valentine, who passed away in 270 AD, was canonised by the Roman Catholic Church. He may have also served as a priest who helped Christian couples get married in secret. As a result, Emperor Claudius II killed him. Males were not permitted to get married because the emperor thought single men were more devoted soldiers. Valentine disagreed with the idea.

Another theory is that St. Valentine was the Terni Bishop who was executed as a martyr by Claudius II outside of Rome. Many people even believe they could be the same person.

The idea that St. Valentine appears in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is another intriguing one. He would mix real-world events with fictional characters, leading many people to question the veracity of the records. Prior to his publication of a poem in which he refers to a person as “St. Valentine,” there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of Valentine’s Day.

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