Origins of Valentine's Day
When did Valentine's Day start? -- Anonymous

The Benedictine Monk's Book of Saints lists eight Saint Valentines, with two of them having feasts days on February 14. My favorite legend of the origins of Valentine's Day are attributed to the earliest St. Valentine. It is said that Emperor Claudius of Rome attempted to abolish marriage because he felt married men did not make good soldiers. Valentine, a priest, then married lovers secretly. The Emperor learned of this and had Valentine imprisoned, where he died on February 14, 271 A.D. This probably never happened, and the romantic customs of February 14th are associated with Valentine in name only simply because his feast day happens to be on the same day that similar pagan customs were already being celebrated. In ancient Rome, the festival of Lupercalia occurred around this time, and young men would draw the names of young women from a box. They would be paired up for the festival or for the year. As Christianity spread through Europe, many pagan celebrations were Christianized by being associated with Christian saints or other holidays. Valentine's Day customs have been observed in England since the 1400s, and by the 1600s people were sending valentine's to each other. The first commercial valentines appeared around 1800.

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