When we think of Valentine’s Day we think of flowers, chocolates love and of course, romance but while all that may be true that fact is the full\u00a0 history of Valentine’s Day and the priest the holiday is named after is not really known.\u00a0 Perhaps this is why the Roman Catholic Church no longer recognizes the\u00a0 holiday on their\u00a0liturgical calendar.\u00a0 The truth is there were a few priests named Valentine that lived and died about the same time, both of which were supposedly beheaded so there really isn’t enough information documented to know which priest the holiday was\u00a0 named after.\u00a0 Either way, so far it doesn’t sound very romantic does it?<\/p>\n

Having said that, I do like this version of the history and so, in brief, I want to share it with you.<\/p>\n

The feast of the Lupercalia (named after the pastoral god Lupercus) was celebrated in Rome on Feb 15 th where rituals were held to ward of wolves and eventually turned into a fertility holiday.\u00a0 On the eve before the feast young lovers pledged their love to each other and declared promises of marriage within the year.\u00a0 But during the third century Rome was at war and the Roman Empire divided.<\/p>\n

It was during this Crisis of the Third Century the Roman Empire that the Valentine holiday was said to have evolved.\u00a0 Since the Empire was\u00a0 divided into 3 separate states\u00a0 there were threats of invasion all around and so Emperor Claudius II, ruler of Rome at that time, decided to bann marriages among all young people.\u00a0 He believed that unmarried soldiers would fight better and were more fearless than married soldiers and he needed his men in full war mode to hold on to his Empire.<\/p>\n