Valentine's Day and its stories

What do we celebrate every 14th of February?
Anyone can answer this question. Even a kid can answer this.

It is Valentine's Day.

We always say Happy Valentine's Day to our parents, grandparents, sibling, friends, lovers and even to strangers! People make a big deal out of this day. Do we even know how Valentine's Day became a thing?

Who is Valentine? Who is this patron saint?

There are a lot of stories that were made to answer these questions but the Catholic Church only recognize three different saints named Valentine who were all martyred.

The first Valentine was a priest in Rome thousands of years ago. It all started when the Emperor at that time thought that soldiers that were single and childless were better than those who had wives and kids. Because of this, he prohibited the marriage of young men. Valentine realized the injustice of this, so he performed secret marriages for young lovers. When the Emperor found out, he ordered his men to kill Valentine.

The second Valentine was a prisoner who fell in love with the jailer's daughter who kept on visiting him during his confinement. Before his death, he wrote a letter to this young girl and signed it as "from your Valentine" which is the common expression that we use these days.

The third Valentine was a civilian that was killed for attempting to help Christians escape from Roman who tortured them.

These are stories of the three Valentines that the Catholic Church recognize. These stories show that Valentine is heroic and romantic.

Which story do you think is correct?

Unfortunately, these stories are not even related to the real story. There is a different story of what Valentine's Day really is about and it is related to Lupercalia.

Let me know if you want me to write an article about Lupercalia. ❤️