The origin of Valentine’s Day takes us to third-century Rome.
During this time period, Rome was going through religious turmoil, with many Romans converting to Christianity. The emperor at the time, Claudius II, was a pagan and wanted to stop the spread of Christianity. There was one priest who attracted disapproval from Claudius II for helping fellow Christians, Saint Valentine.
First, some context. The Roman Empire in the third century was in constant danger both internally and externally. Out of all the possible reasons for the inability of the Roman army to defend effectively, there was one that stood out to the emperor particularly: marriage. Claudius II believed that marriages were causing distractions among the soldiers, leading him to ban soldiers from getting married. The ban on marriage came as a shock to the people and left them in emotional distress. So, Saint Valentine decided that by the powers bestowed on him, he would secretly help the soldiers tie the knot, and began performing wedding ceremonies in the church. Due to this act of love, Saint Valentine became known as the angel who helped the emotionally distressed. He also handed out heart-shaped parchments to remind these men of their wedding vows and God’s love.
It was not long before Saint Valentine’s secret mission spread and was reported to Claudius II. This action annoyed the emperor so much that, in his outrage, he ordered Saint Valentine to be arrested, locking him in a dungeon. The jail in which Saint Valentine was kept had a jailer named Asterius who noticed Saint Valentine talking to and helping the people around him in the dungeon. Asterius also noticed how knowledgeable Saint Valentine was. Convinced that Saint Valentine was a man of learning, Asterius started to bring his blind daughter Julia to Saint Valentine in hopes that her blindness would be healed. Julia was a young girl with a sharp mind, and Saint Valentine began reading Julia books about Roman history and his gods. Through this, she began to see the world through his eyes. According to some, Saint Valentine eventually healed Julia’s eyesight. Asterius was so happy by this that he readily surrendered to Saint Valentine and converted to Christianity.
This news spread like wildfire around the jail, with all the guards learning about the actions of Saint Valentine. Claudius II was the last to be informed about the ongoing events inside his own dungeons. Enraged, the emperor immediately ordered Saint Valentine to be summoned before him. Claudius II asked Saint Valentine to respect his decision of not allowing the soldiers to marry and to give up his religion, two requests that Saint Valentine denied. The emperor took Saint Valentine’s denial as an insult and sentenced him to be executed. On February 14, just before his execution, Saint Valentine wrote his last letter to Julia. The letter was signed “From your Valentine.”
Several decades later, in 296, Pope Gelacious declared February 14 an official holiday in honor of Saint Valentine, eventually leading to the holiday we celebrate today.
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