My ex-boyfriend broke up with me on the phone, two days before Valentine's day, two years ago. Where he was, it had been the wee hours of the morning, and I wondered if he was drunk or high—on wine, pot, glue, midnight oil, or whatever it was—when he called me. It doesn't matter, though. There was no element of surprise to salt my wounds, because I knew this was going to happen sooner or later anyway.
I found a cockroach sitting in my bathroom right after. We hadn't seen one in the house for a very long time. It died after a good smack from an old sandal and a jet of prallethrin and whatever other chemicals they put in bug spray. I wanted to throw up. I wasn't sure if it was because of the bug spray.
My sister asked me what I was going to do with my letter as I swept the dead cockroach off the floor. She meant the one I was about to send my ex, of course—in it, I told him the story of Saint Valentine. The letter was sealed in a pink envelope that my sister helped decorate with painted flowers; tucked away neatly with a handmade valentine.
"Too bad you used your best pressed flowers on the card," she told me. I could think of at least half a dozen more too bads.
"Do you want to hear about Saint Valentine?" I asked her. She said no. So I'll use this opportunity to tell you the story now.
February 14th is the feast day of Saint Valentine, patron saint of not only lovers, but also of epileptics and beekeepers. How this day was popularised (and secularised) though, is another different story entirely, and I'll save that for another time.
Contrary to what most people might think, there is actually more than one St. Valentine, since it's a fairly common Roman name. All of them were martyred. Two of the more popular stories about people named Valentine are sometimes considered to refer to one person, since they were somewhat similar and take place at the same time—during the rule of an Emperor Claudius in Rome. I think it's worth mentioning that this was a time where Christians were persecuted. I should probably tell you though, that I did my research, and many of the sources are not very consistent, so I'll do my best to tell you what I know so far:
According to the Nuremberg Chronicle, a codex written in the 15th century, Valentine was a Roman priest. He was known for stating this opinion about pagan gods:
"Jupiter, Mercury, and the other gods [are] miserable human beings."
Once, he was on house arrest under the Judge Asterius, who discussed matters of his faith with him. After he "enlightened" Asterius's blind daughter—most likely by performing a miracle that allowed her to see—the judge and around forty people from his household converted to Christianity and were baptised. Later, Valentine was captured by the Emperor Claudius, and was eventually executed on the 14th of February.
The other story about the other Valentine (who some people consider to be the same person as the previous Valentine) has less credible sources (or at least, sources that I can find), but it's my favourite. In this story, Valentine was a priest who often came to the aid of many Christian men.
That was nothing new though. Here's where it gets interesting: back then, it was thought that single, unmarried men made for better soldiers. Valentine performed marriages for Christian couples so that the men would not be recruited into the army. He was said to have "cut hearts from parchment," giving it to these men, "to remind them of their vows and God's love." For these crimes, Valentine was imprisoned and executed on the 14th of February.
One other bit I've read floating around the Internet is that before Valentine was executed, he wrote a letter to Judge Asterius's daughter, signing it with, "from your Valentine." I remember one of my kindergarten teachers telling me this story too.
All of this may be a possible explanation to the origin of the Valentine's day gestures we still see today. It's important to remember that the story happened a long time ago, and was probably not documented very well. Nevertheless, it's nice to think about how the stories about Valentine inspired many people to celebrate love on his feast day.
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