How did Valentines day come about?

All Christians should appreciate this martyr who died about 269 C.E.

Little is known for sure about Valentine. Whoever he was, Valentine really existed because archaeologists have unearthed a Roman catacomb and an ancient church dedicated to Saint Valentine. In 496 C.E. Pope Gelasius marked February 14th as a celebration in honor of his martyrdom.

A book published in 1493 tells this story: Valentine was a Roman priest martyred during the reign of Claudius the Goth [Claudius II].

Since he was caught marrying Christian couples and aiding any Christians who were being persecuted under Emperor Claudius in Rome [when helping them was considered a crime], Valentine was arrested and imprisoned.

Claudius took a liking to this prisoner -- until Valentine made a strategic error: he tried to convert the Emperor -- whereupon this priest was condemned to death.

He was beaten with clubs and stoned; when that didn't do it, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate [circa 269].

One legend says, while awaiting his execution, Valentine restored the sight of his jailer's blind daughter.

Another legend says, on the eve of his death, he penned a farewell note to the jailer's daughter, signing it, "From your Valentine."

St. Valentine is the Patron Saint of affianced couples, bee keepers, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travelers, young people.

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=...

With love in Christ.

In 1797, a British publisher issued The Young Man’s Valentine Writer, which contained scores of suggested sentimental verses for the young lover unable to compose his own. Printers had already begun producing a limited number of cards with verses and sketches, called “mechanical valentines,” and a reduction in postal rates in the next century ushered in the less personal but easier practice of mailing Valentines. That, in turn, made it possible for the first time to exchange cards anonymously, which is taken as the reason for the sudden appearance of racy verse in an era otherwise prudishly Victorian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day

"Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day,[2][3][4] is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions.[2][4] The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs, Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD. It was deleted from the Roman calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, but its religious observance is still permitted. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished."

Read more here ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day

Companies that had money to make from it. It's become huge because of companies like Hallmark and Russell Stoffer.

there was a ST. Valentine

i read about him or her in Lives of the Saints, i was curious.

i totally forgot what it said