The Catholic Church recognizes three saints named Valentine, one of which contains the legend of a Roman priest by the name Valentine. During the rule of Emperor Claudius II Gothicus marriage for young men was outlawed due to his belief that unwed men made better soldiers. However, St. Valentine knew the injustice of this new law and defied the Emperor by continuing to wed young couples in secret. Unfortunately St. Valentine’s actions were exposed and as a result he was sentenced to his own execution. This legend explains the love and romance of today’s modern Valentine’s Day, the desire for unity and love amongst young couples led them to seek out St. Valentine to carry out the outlawed practice of young marriage. Mystery, love, and violence all tied together to create a holiday for lovers to express their passion without judgment, defying society’s norms of hiding one’s love for secluded spaces just as St. Valentine rebelled against the law banning young marriages.
The second legend being analyzed states that St. Valentine was a bishop from Interamna, what is modern Terni, Italy. Just as the previous take St. Valentine from Interamna was beheaded, his crime however differed from the previous. St. Valentine’s crime was his refusal to renounce his faith, by not only refusing to give up his faith but by continuing to convert new followers. Similarly, other depictions of the tale have suggested that St. Valentine was executed for his attempts to help Christian believers escape Roman prisons where they were often beaten and toured. These stories do not depict the traditional concept of love but a love for religion and God by pursuing one’s faith and refusal to submit to laws banning one’s beliefs. This also ties in with the common depictions of the Christian God, depictions of a God of love, a father, and a loving God. The love for God and of God has transformed into a holiday where lovers now express their love for one another.
Our final tale takes us back to imprisonment, however, in this story St. Valentine himself was imprisoned. In this legend St. Valentine sent the first known “Valentine’s greeting” himself after falling for a young lady while prisoned. The legend speculates that the young lady was most likely one of St. Valentine’s prison mates’ daughters who frequently visited her father. It was said that before his death St. Valentine wrote her a love letter that was signed “From your Valentine”. This story explains the origins of the commonly used phrase “From your Valentines” in today’s modern day Valentine’s Day cards and letters.
Though the origins and credibility of these legends are murky and unclear they all share common characteristics. In all the tales St. Valentine is depicted as sympathetic and heroic but most importantly a romantic figure. He has gone against laws of marriage to unite lovers, to defying laws banning Christianity in order to pursue his faith and relationship with the Christian God and to convert followers to unite them with the loving Christian God, and in some tales even being love struck himself and sending letters of affection to the lady of his admirations. Commonly all these stories end with St. Valentine’s tragic execution for his defiances of the law in order to purse and share love, whether it was through the traditional love between couples or the love shared by religion and belief St. Valentine has been a symbol of love and unity throughout the decades that has now manifested itself into our modern holiday of Valentine’s Day.
