Saint Valentine is quite the mysterious figure. There isn’t a lot of reliable information about him, and we’re not quite sure if the stories about him are about two saints or the one (who knew Valentine was such a popular name?)
Here’s what we do know for certain: the Roman Catholic Church recognises St Valentine as a saint of Roman Martyrology. He is also the patron saint of lovers and courtly love.
Outside of these certain facts, we have two legendary tales about St Valentine with some inconsistent details.
The first tale takes place in Ancient Rome, 3 AD. Emperor Claudius II wanted the best soldiers and thought of an angle that might help him achieve this goal. Could improving the athleticism of his soldiers help? Maybe their weapon proficiency? No, the issue was clearly their wives and families! It was this Claudius settled on before outlawing marriage for young men.
Valentine (a priest who was clearly a romantic at heart) couldn’t believe the injustice of the declaration. In response, he performed secret marriages for the young lovers of the empire. However, when Claudius found out he sent Valentine to prison and sentenced him to death.
The second tale follows a similar structure but involves love for Valentine himself.
In this story, Valentine defied the empire by helping persecuted Christians escape the harsh Roman rule. Christians at this time were mainly targeted because their religion prevented them from sacrificing to the emperor, an act that was considered to be high treason. When arrested or imprisoned for being Christian, followers were often tortured and beaten.
Once again, Valentine was caught in this heroic act and sent to prison. But in this tale he falls in love with a girl named Julia (who in some versions is his jailer’s daughter). Some renditions have him heal Julia’s blindness, and others don’t. However there is one aspect of this tale that stays relatively consistent: it is to Julia he sends the first ‘Valentine’.
The night before his execution, Valentine writes a letter to Julia signed ‘From your Valentine’ - this is where the traditional expression originates!