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From REAL SIMPLE MAGAZINE:
Whether you love Valentine's Day or hate it, one thing's clear: Valentine's Day history goes way back. And while Valentine's Day is now known for kissing, Valentine's Day gifts, and hard-to-get dinner reservations, the origins of the holiday are far less romantic. Here is the Valentine's Day history that wouldn't make it into a rom-com, featuring a saint, a massacre, and even the sinful nuns of Valentine's Day (seriously!).
Who was Saint Valentine? (And what does he have to do with chocolate hearts?)
Not much, it turns out. St. Valentine's Day was a feast day in the Catholic religion, added to the liturgical calendar around 500 AD. The day was commemorated for martyred saints named—you guessed it—Valentine. Differing legends celebrate three different saints called Valentine or Valentinus, but since very little was known about these men and there were conflicting reports of the St. Valentine Day story, the feast day was removed from the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar in 1969.
One legend says that Saint Valentine refused to convert to paganism and was executed by Roman Emperor Claudius II. Prior to his execution, he was able to miraculously heal the daughter of his jailer, who then converted to Christianity along with his family.
But according to others—and this is how Saint Valentine became affiliated with a love-focused holiday—Saint Valentine was a Roman priest who performed weddings for soldiers forbidden to marry, because of a Roman emperor's edict decreeing married soldiers did not make good warriors and thus young men could not marry. This Saint Valentine wore a ring with a Cupid on it—a symbol of love—that helped soldiers recognize him. And, in a precursor to greeting cards, he handed out paper hearts to remind Christians of their love for God. Because of this legend, Saint Valentine became known as the patron saint of love.
While the Saint Valentine story set the groundwork for establishing the day as a holiday for romantic love, what truly solidified the connection between Saint Valentine and love was a poem by medieval author Geoffrey Chaucer in 1375, which historians consider the origin of the "modern" celebration of Valentine's Day, where we celebrate our romantic partnership with one other person.
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