In the beginning…
The Roman Empire was experiencing massive turmoil at the time. Dubbed the ‘Crisis of the Third Century’ by scholars, this period saw the empire divided into three competing states, with the threat of invasion all around.
At that time, Rome was ruled by an emperor named Claudius.
Claudius dreamt to have a big army. He expected men to volunteer to join. Many men just did not want to fight in wars.
They did not want to leave their wives and families. And so, not many men signed up. This made Claudius furious. So he came up with a crazy idea. He thought that if men were not married, they would not mind joining the army. So Claudius decided not to allow any more marriages. Young people thought his new law was cruel. Valentine, thought it was preposterous! He certainly wasn’t going to support that law!
Valentine was a priest? One of his favorite activities was to marry couples. Even after Emperor Claudius passed his law banning marriage, Valentine kept on performing marriage ceremonies — secretly. It was really quite exciting conducting marriage in a small candlelit room with only the bride and groom and the priest. They would whisper the words of the ceremony, listening all the while for the steps of soldiers.
One night, Valentine did hear footsteps. It was scary but the couple he was marrying escaped in time. Valentine was caught. He was thrown in jail and told that his punishment was death.
But he stayed cheerful. And wonderful things happened.
Cladius took a liking to his prisoner. Many young people came to the jail to visit him. They threw flowers and notes up to his window. They wanted him to know that they, too, believed in love.
One of these young people was the daughter of the prison guard. Her father allowed her to visit Valentine in the cell. Sometimes she would sit with Valentine and talk for hours. She helped to keep his spirits up. She agreed that Valentine did the right thing by ignoring the Emperor and going ahead with the secret marriages. On the day he was to die, he left his friend a little note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. He signed it, “Love from your Valentine.”
That note started the custom of exchanging love messages on Valentine’s Day. It was written on the day he died, February 14, 269 A.D. Now, every year on this day, people remember. But most importantly, they think about love and friendship. And when they think of Emperor Claudius, they remember how he tried to stand in the way of love, and they laugh because they know that love can’t be beaten!
Another but similar version of the story said Claudius had ordered all Romans to worship twelve gods, and had made it a crime punishable by death to associate with Christians. But Valentine was dedicated to the ideals of Christ; not even the threat of death could keep him from practicing his beliefs. He was arrested and imprisoned.
Valentine made a strategic error: he tried to convert the Emperor whereupon this priest was condemned to death. He was beaten with clubs and stoned; when that didn’t do it, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate.
During the last weeks of Valentine’s life, a remarkable thing happened. Seeing that he was a man of learning, the jailer asked whether his daughter, Julia, might be brought to Valentine for lessons. She had been blind since birth. Julia was a pretty young girl with a quick mind. Valentine read stories of Rome’s history to her. He described the world of nature to her. He taught her arithmetic and told her about God. She saw the world through his eyes, trusted his wisdom, and found comfort in his quiet strength.
Through Valentine, Julie converted to Christianity and also got a miracle of sight for she desired to see.
On the eve of his death, Valentinus wrote a last note to Julia, urging her to stay close to God. He signed it, “From your Valentine.” His sentence was carried out the next day, February 14, 270 A.D., near a gate that was later named Porta Valentini in his memory. He was buried at what is now the Church of Praxedes in Rome. It is said that Julia planted a pink-blossomed almond tree near his grave. Today, the almond tree remains a symbol of abiding love and friendship.
On each February 14, Saint Valentine’s Day, messages of affection, love, and devotion are exchanged around the world.
In the Catholic history, saints are not supposed to rest in peace; they’re expected to keep busy: to perform miracles, to intercede. Being in jail or dead is no excuse for non-performance of the supernatural. And so, Valentine lives on.
St. Valentine is the Patron Saint of affianced couples, bee keepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travellers and young people. He is represented in pictures with birds and roses.
But it is not known whether this legend is factually true. However, it is a good story anyway. It is nice to think of someone who believed in marriage and was willing to risk death to do what he believed was right.
There were many versions of how the martyr’s name became connected with romance. The date of his death may have become mingled with the Feast of Lupercalia, a pagan festival of love. On these occasions, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed. In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius decided to put an end to the Feast of Lupercalia, and he declared that February 14 be celebrated as St Valentine Day.
I go love oooooo
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