Why do we have Valentines Day?
The origins of Valentine’s Day, like the origins of love itself, are somewhat obscure a combination of myth, history, destiny, chance and marketing. Legend has it that a certain third-century priest named Valentine persisted in performing marriage ceremonies despite a ban by the Roman emperor Claudius II (Claudius was persuaded that single men made better soldiers for his army). Thrown into jail, Valentine formed a relationship with his jailor’s daughter (some say he cured her blindness) and he signed his last message to her “From your Valentine,” a phrase which still gets a lot of mileage. St. Valentine was executed on February 14, circa the year 270, and his remains (probably his, but there were two other Christian martyrs called Valentine) are now on display in the Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin. There are also reports of an ancient pagan custom that took place in preparation for the Roman festival of Lupercalia, which started February 15. The names of the town’s maide
