The Original Valentine

Today is Saint Valentine’s Day – a day filled with cards, candy, and the color pink. Have you ever wondered about the origins of this holiday? 

Well, Saint Valentine was a real person. There is a lot of lore and uncertainty around what he actually did in his life but we have some events accounted for. 

Saint Valentine was a priest living in the later 200s AD in Rome. At that time, the Emperor of Rome was Emperor Claudius who, while tolerant of all religions, was not fond of those pursuing the Catholic faith. He passed an edict forbidding young men to marry because he believed that soldiers fought better when they were not married and not worried for the well-being of their family at home. 

This did not sit well with Valentine who, as a Catholic priest, sought out to marry as many people as he could. He married young lovers in the Church in secret until being captured and imprisoned. 

While he was in a Roman jail, one of Valentine’s jailers, Asterius, approached Valentine. Asterius was not a religious man but was a desperate father of a blind daughter. Asterius pleaded with Valentine to heal his daughter. Valentine prayed to God and miraculously healed Asterius’s daughter’s blindness. Astounded by what had happened, Asterius converted to Christianity. Despite this miracle, Valentine’s fate was still sealed, and he was beaten, stoned, and then beheaded. Tradition goes that Valentine’s last words were written to the once blind daughter of Asterius. He signed the note, “From your Valentine.”

I think it is very cool that notes are still signed with those same words. We sign our cards with words of love and compliments and give them to people who mean a lot to us. This holiday has become quite commercialized, but we would do well to remember its origins. This holiday is about telling people that you love them. While we should not need a specific day to do this, who are we to give up this wonderful opportunity? Take time today to write valentines, tell people you love them and embrace this day! You never know what your actions are doing for the people around you. Sharing your feelings could provide exactly what they need to hear.