Valentine’s Day, February 14, is noted on almost every calendar in our country and is a day that brings great profit to the manufacturers of greeting cards and chocolates. It is quite likely, however, that few persons who receive cards asking them to be the sender’s Valentine know the origin of this custom. What connection could this have with the saint who is honored on this day?

Of St. Valentine himself we know relatively little. The Roman Martyrology for this date mentions two saints of the same name, both martyrs in the third century. Whether there were two is a matter of debate, but there is no doubt that a Roman priest named Valentine was martyred, probably on February 14, in the persecution of the emperor Claudius the Goth around the year 270. A church was soon erected at the site along the Flaminian Way where the saint died, and at one time the Roman gate called the Porta del Populo was known as the Gate of St. Valentine. Although this saint is no longer listed in the Church’s liturgical calendar, he still ranks among those heroic men and women of all ages who were willing to suffer death rather than disown their Lord.

How, then, did the custom of sending Valentine’s Day greetings arise? In medieval times, it was commonly held that birds chose their mates on this date, halfway through the month of February. Geoffrey Chaucer, in his poem The Parliament of Fowls, writes that it is "on Seynt Valentyne’s day/When every fowl cometh ther to choose his mate." Less than a century later, a matchmaking mother in England wrote to her daughter’s suitor, reminding him that St. Valentine’s Day was drawing near and urging him to come visit for a few days to speak to her husband. She ended with the words, "I shall pray that we may bring the matter to a conclusion."

The daughter, perhaps not altogether confident in the persuasive powers of her parents alone, wrote to the man herself, assuring him that if he could be content with her small dowry "and my poor person, I would be the merriest maiden on ground, a good, true, and loving Valentine."

Similar hopes have been in the minds and on the lips of countless lovers during the five centuries since then. It is fondly to be wished that at least some of them might also be mindful of the heroic saint whose name graces this popular day.

Revised: January 8, 1999