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One of the legends surrounding the history of Valentine’s Day is that St. Valentine was a 3rd Century priest in Rome. When the emperor at the time, Claudius II, thought that single men made better warriors than married ones, he outlawed marriage for his young potential soldiers. But St. Valentine did not agree and secretly continued to perform marriages for the young men. Claudius, of course, found out, and sentenced St. Valentine to death.
There is another theory about the history of the romantic day, and that is that perhaps Valentine was helping Christians to escape the torture chamber-type prisons of Rome. When he was discovered helping the prisoners, he was killed.
The very first Valentine card may have been sent by St. Valentine himself. As a prisoner, he fell in love with a young woman. Legend tells that this woman was the daughter of a prison guard. She apparently visited him often, and before his death he wrote a love note to her and signed it “From your Valentine.” This expression is still used today.
The different stories and theories that surround the origin and history of Valentine’s Day vary greatly. But the romanticism and heroic appeal made him a most popular saint in England and France.
It is believed by some that the first Valentine’s Day was celebrated on the anniversary of his death, about 270 A.D. Others think that the first celebration came during a pagan festival in February, so as to make the celebration more of a Christian one. Handwritten notes of affection were written in Great Britain, when Valentine’s Day was first recognized as a celebration of love in the 17th century. And by the 18th century, friends engaged in the short note-writing, as well. By the end of that century, it began to be commercialized with printed cards as technology moved forward. And by 1840, Valentine’s Day cards began to be mass-produced in America.
Today, over a billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year. It is the second largest card-selling occasion, next to Christmas.
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