Be My Valentine
February has long been known as the month of romance and the
14th of this month is when people celebrate and confess their
love for that special someone in their life. Unlike other
holidays, Valentines Day is actually celebrated throughout the
world on this day mainly because love is something most people
can associate with and it does not conflict with the various
religions around the world.
What do you know about the origin of Valentines day? How did
this tradition of love start and who was St.Valentine? Obviously
St. Valentine must have been a man with a great passion for
something but what? Today the Catholic Church recognizes three
different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, therefore there
are three legends of how Valentines day got started.
All three of these men were martyred and who really started this
ancient tradition is not quite certain but all of them are kind
of romantic so perhaps you can decide for yourself from which
legend did Valentines Day origin. One of these legends suggest
that Valentine was killed as he tried to help Christians escape
horrible Roman prisons where they were beaten and tortured.
Another legend claims that Valentine was a priest in the third
century in Rome. At this time Emperor Claudius ll ruled Rome and
what he did was to make it illegal four young men to get
married. The reason for this was that Claudius felt that men
without wives and families made much better soldiers than
married men. Valentine felt this was an great injustice and
still kept on performing marriages in secret.. When he was
discovered, Claudius ordered Valentine to be put to death.
The third legend goes that while in prison, Valentine fell in
love with a young girl who may have been the daughter of the
jailor. Supposedly she was visiting him during his confinement
and before his death Valentine he wrote her a letter which he
signed; "From Your Valentine". Any of these three legends could
have been the beginning of today's Valentines Day but which one,
nobody can say for sure.
Regardless which of these legends actually was the origin of
Valentines Day they were all filled with love and passion just
as this special day is today. Love is what Valentines Day is all
about and hopefully you have someone special in your life with
whom you can share this special day. Happy Valentines Day!