Origins of Saint Valentine's Day
February a time for love, and Saintly candidates for “our Valentine”
Jan 9, 2007
Saint Valentine’s Day is one of those big retail days, akin to Mother’s Day. In 2006, the average American spent around US$100 on his or her significant other, totaling $13.70 billion. Men spend about twice as much as women ($135.67 and $68.64 respectively), mostly on cards, chocolates, flowers, and/or an evening out. All in the name of Saint Valentine.
The tradition of dedicating the middle of February to love really goes beyond any one person. The ancient Greeks dedicated that time to the rather passionate marriage of their prime gods, Zeus and Hera. In ancient Rome, on February 15, young nobles celebrated the Lupercalia by running through the streets naked and striking passers-by. According to Plutarch, noble women would get in their way on purpose, because they believed that it would help with childbirth and cure barrenness.
This proved a little too rowdy for the up-and-coming Christians, but as usual Christianity adopted the old date for a more sedate version of a love-celebration - thus facilitating its acceptance among pagans. So when at the end of the fifth century Pope Gelasius abolished the Lupercalia, he declared 14 February the day of the feast of Saint Valentine.
Which Saint Valentine the Pope meant is not clear: 14 February is dedicated to two Valentines, who may be the same person (the old Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints lists 11 Saint Valentine’s Days, but all of these were scrapped as insufficiently historical in 1969):
- Valentine, bishop of Terni in Italy as of 197 AD. He was killed during Emperor Aurelian’s persecutions of Christians.
- Valentine of Rome, a priest and doctor who treated the poor for free. He was martyred around 269 AD for helping imprisoned Christians. While in prison converted his jailer by restoring sight to the latter’s daughter.
But it was not the Pope, but the people who decided who was to be their Valentine. During the Middle Ages, Valentinius of Alexandria, the ancient Egyptian city (c. 100-153) was the most popular. His Gnostic preaching, and his emphasis on love in the bridal chamber, ruined his chances for the bishopric of Rome (the later papacy), though they made him a good candidate for a romantic Valentine’s Day.
The romantic Valentine tradition really took off in the 14thcentury, when “courtly love” was all the vogue at the royal courts. After that it proved immensely popular, even to this day.
