VALENTINE / LOVE

Celebrated on February 14 yearly, Saint Valentine’s Day or Valentine’s Day is the traditional day on which lovers convey their love to one another by sending Valentine’s cards, typically even anonymously. The commonest characteristic of Valentines Day nowadays is the mutual change of love notes in the type of “valentines”. Fashionable Valentine symbols of modern instances embody the heart-formed outline and the determine of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, mass produced greeting cards have largely changed handwritten notes. It is believed that nearly one billion Valentines Day cards are despatched each year worldwide, making it only the second largest card-sending holiday subsequent to Christmas. Women are believed to purchase approximately 85 percent of all “valentines”.

Stories of many Valentines

Opinions differ about who St Valentine was. Early martyrologies point out a minimum of three St Valentines under the date of 14 February. One is a priest at Rome, one other a Bishop of Interamna (now Terni in Italy) and the opposite lived and died in Africa. Many, nevertheless, are of the opinion that the first are the identical person.

It is, however, widely believed that Valentine’s Day has perhaps originated from the ancient Roman feast of Lupercalia. A festival was held on February 15 in honor of one among their gods Lupercus, who was called upon by the Romans to ward off the threats of those fierce wolves that roamed the adjacent forests. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia, a love lottery was organized in which the names of Roman girls had been written on slips of paper and positioned into jars. Every younger man then drew a slip and the girl whose name he picked up was to be his sweetheart for the year.

The holiday subsequently grew to become Valentine’s Day after a priest named Valentine. At the moment when Christianity was nonetheless a new faith, Valentine was a priest in Rome. The then Emperor Claudius II, had issued an order forbidding the Roman soldiers to marry or become engaged. The emperor believed that when they bought married, his soldiers would want to keep dwelling fairly than struggle his wars. Valentine defied the Emperor’s decree and secretly married the younger couples. He was lastly arrested, imprisoned, and beheaded on February 14, the eve of Lupercalia. Valentine was posthumously named a saint. As Christianity grew stronger in Rome, the priests moved the Lupercalia or spring holiday from February 15 to February 14, i.e., Valentine’s Day. Since then the vacation began honoring Saint Valentine instead of Lupercus.

“From your Valentine”

According to one other story, Valentine was one of the early Christians who was seized and dragged before the Prefect of Rome and jailed for serving to some Christian martyrs. He cured the jailor’s daughter of blindness while in jail. When the emperor learned of this miracle he ordered the beheading of Valentine. Valentine is said to have sent the jailor’s daughter a farewell message signed, “Out of your Valentine”.

In 1969, as part of a larger effort to reduce the number of saint days of purely legendary origin, the Church removed St. Valentine’s Day as an official holiday from its calendar. At present, February 14 is dedicated only to Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius.

If you loved this post and you would like to receive much more information concerning Valentine’s Day 2022 please visit our web site.