History
The Touching Story of St Valentine And Why We Celebrate Valentines Day Till Today
- Over the centuries, there have been different myths tied to the celebration of Valentine.
- Most of these myths originates from Italy.
- The most commonly accepted history of the celebration of Valentine is the one involving St Valentine of Rome and Emperor Claudius II Gothicus which had a bloody end.
In the third century, Claudius II Gothicus was the emperor of Rome and he was according to myth, a heartless and cruel ruler which earned him the nickname, Claudius the cruel. He was also known for his tendency to get into conflicts and wars at the slightest provocation.
During his time as the Roman Emperor, Rome was fighting a lot of battles and they needed to recruit a lot of soldiers in order to ensure that they were covered on all fronts.
However, Roman men were not very eager to join the army because of their commitment to their wives and families.
So, in order to make sure the army recruits more Roman men as soldiers, Emperor Claudius placed a ban on marriages and canceled all engagements in Rome.
This move broke a lot of hearts and dashed the hopes of lovers that were supposed to get married and nothing could be done about it.
However, a simple priest named Valentine came forward and went against the Emperor’s orders. Being an advocate of love in marriage, Valentine organized secret marriages for soldiers before they went to war.
However, in 269AD, The Emperor found out about it, threw Valentine in prison and ordered his death.
While in prison, Valentine happened to fall in love with a blind girl who happened to be the daughter of the jailer.
In the night before his execution, Valentine was said to have squeezed ink from a violet and wrote a sonnet with it for his blind lover. Legend has it that his sonnet made the blind girl see again.
Valentine was clubbed to death by the Roman executioners on the 14th of February, 269AD. Several years after his death, Valentine was granted sainthood and the Catholic church created a feast to be celebrated on the 14th of February in his honor.
Another version says that February 14th was picked because of an ancient belief that birds particularly lovebirds, doves and owls began to mate on that very date.
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