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ValentineSaint Valentine's Day: 14 February

  • St Valentine is known as the patron saint of lovers.
  • Valentine's Day is celebrated each year on 14 February by people giving presents of cards, flowers (often red roses) and sweets or chocolates.
  • There are at least three Saint Valentines recognised by the Catholic Church
  • One was a priest named Valentine who lived in Rome in the Third century. He was imprisoned and later executed by the Emperor Claudius on February 14, in the year 269 AD.
  • One version of this story says that Valentine was imprisoned because he married lovers, even though the Emperor Claudius had forbidden it so that he would have a supply of unmarried young men for his armies.
  • A different Valentine, the bishop of Terni, was killed the same year by order of the Emperor for being a Christian.
  • Neither have anything to do with lovers, and it is thought that the association with love has come from a Roman festival called the Lupercalia, which was when young men took part in a lottery to find a partner.
  • Another story tells of Valentine who fell in love with his jailer's daughter, and to whom he sent a letter - the first 'valentine'

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