Saint Valentine's Day, a History Steeped in Love

Valentine’s Day is a day set apart to express and celebrate love for that special someone in our lives.

But what about the history behind this day of love? How did these lovely traditions start?

The holiday of hearts spins from origins set in ancient Rome during the feast of Lupercalia. During this event maidens wrote love messages and put them in an urn. Unmarried men desiring to court the maidens drew a message. Sounds like an ancient Roman Bachelor series in the making.

My own favorite story written and retold by Robert Sabuda in Saint Valentine, a beautifully illustrated children’s book.

The setting ancient Rome. Valentine was a physician who utilized herbs for healing. One day a Roman prison guard brought his blind daughter to Valentine. Valentine applied an ointment to the child’s eyes, but knew the difficulty of treating blindness. He prayed for the child and the guard.

Valentine was also a Christian. Prayer was an important part of his practice. But he could only pray at night because it was forbidden.

One day the guard brought his daug hter, to see Valentine. The physician gone. He and other Christians were blamed for an uprising in the city and imprisoned.

The guard rushed to Valentine’s cell. The physician wrote a note to the child and gave it to her father. The father read the note to his daughter, “From your Valentine.”

Valentine was martyred for his beliefs on February 14, 270 by Claudius II Gothicus. Pope Galasius I named February 14 Saint Valentine’s Day in 496.

A collage of traditions have brought us where we are today with heart felt celebrations.

I hope you enjoyed the brief summation of a great story. Have a great Valentine’s day.

The greatest love is the love of Christ shed abroad in our hearts. May you be blessed by the Lover of Your Soul today and everyday. Amen.

Scripture for the day

“And so faith, hope, love abide [faith—conviction and belief respecting man’s relation to God and divine things; hope—joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love—true affection for God and man, growing out of God’s love for and in us], these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13 AMP)

Images by micheile-henderson-unsplash, and freestocks @ unspash