First, Happy Valentine’s Day! In the U.S., this has become known as a romantic day for couples, with countless people going out to dinner and/or exchanging cards and gifts such as jewelry, chocolate, and flowers. The origins of Valentine’s Day date back to Saint Valentine in the third century. He was a priest in Rome at a time when Christians were persecuted there. Little is known about his life, and there have been some questions raised about his true historical identity. Some sources hold that there were multiple notable people named Valentinus during early church history, and it is possible that stories about these multiple individuals have been combined into a single figure.
According to the legend, Saint Valentine was jailed and condemned to death after performing illicit weddings that had been forbidden by Emperor Claudius, who believed that unmarried men made better soldiers. Supposedly, while Saint Valentine was in jail, he fell in love with his jailer’s daughter, who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, he gave her a letter, signing it: “From your Valentine,” an expression that is still in use today. This led to the tradition of exchanging Valentine’s Day cards.
Valentine was martyred on February 14 in A.D. 269, and Pope Gelasius I established The Feast of Saint Valentine in his honor in A.D. 496. This feast eventually morphed into the celebrations we know today. In Italy, Valentine’s Day is known as La Festa Degli Innamorati, and it is celebrated by lovers. It might surprise you to learn that even though Saint Valentine came from Rome, the current holiday has been imported from America. Unlike in America, La Festa Degli Innamorati is not celebrated by Italian children. Much like in America, couples enjoy romantic dinners and exchange chocolates. Different cities have their own celebrations. Verona, famous of being the home of Romeo and Juliet, has a four-day festival called “Verona in Love.” This festival includes free concerts and contests.
