Saint valentine family

When was st valentine born and died
When was st valentine born
St valentine: patron saint of

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About Saint Valentine

Heart-shaped cards, chocolates, roses, and romance. All these things capture the essence of the popular romantic holiday Valentine’s Day. Showing love for your significant other is really what this entire holiday is for, right? Or perhaps that is not the case. After all, the origin of this holiday doesn’t spark from romantic love at all, but more of a platonic sacrificial love as displayed by the most honored Saint Valentine.

In the 268 AD the Roman Empire was ruled by Emperor Claudius II, or Claudius Gothicus. Claudius was generally tolerant of most religious policies, but persecuted the Catholic Church. He passed an edict forbidding the young to marry, based off of the belief that unmarried soldiers fought better than married soldiers, who were constantly worried for the health and well-being of their family in the soldier’s absence, or what would happen to the family in the event of the soldier’s death. Polygamy was also more popular during this time, though much against the Christian teachings of the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman.

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In modern times, St Valentine's Day is more closely associated with cards, chocolates and commercial gain, but it has not always been the case. Although the story of the saint and the origins of the feast day are clouded by myth, February 14 has long been celebrated as the day of lovers.

The earliest version of the story dates back to ancient Rome and the pagan festival of Lupercalia. Shepherds outside the city walls waged a constant battle against hungry wolves and prayed to the god Lupercus to watch over their flocks. Every year in February, the Romans would repay the god's vigilance with a festival, which doubled as a celebration of fertility and the onset of Spring. Newlywed women would be whipped by februa (strips of goat skin and the derivation of our word February) to purify their bodies in preparation for childbirth.

One of the highlights of Lupercalia came on February 14 with an erotic tribute to Juno Februata, the goddess of feverish love (the equivalent of Cilla Black). The names of maidens were drawn at random by young men and the resultant couple would become partne

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On February 14, when we share chocolates, special dinners or doily cards with our loved ones, we do it in the name of Saint Valentine. But who was this saint of romance?

Search the internet, and you can find plenty of stories about him—or them. One Saint Valentine was supposedly a Roman priest who performed secret weddings against the wishes of the authorities in the third century. Imprisoned in the home of a noble, he healed his captor’s blind daughter, causing the whole household to convert to Christianity and sealing his fate. Before being tortured and decapitated on February 14, he sent the girl a note signed “Your Valentine.”

Some accounts say another saint named Valentine during the same period was the Bishop of Terni, also credited with secret weddings and martyrdom via beheading on February 14.

7 Things You Didn't Know About Valentine's Day

Unfortunately for anyone hoping for a tidy, romantic backstory to the holiday, scholars who have studied its origins say there’s very little basis for these accounts. In fact, Valentine’s Day only became associated with