Who Started Valentine’s Day Anyway?

by Tom Miller

Contrary to popular belief, Valentine’s Day is not entirely the construct of an evil axis led by the florist’s guild, les chocolatiers, and a few profit-mongering greeting card conglomerates. Was it made popular by these nefarious forces? No question. But it had a history long before.

It All Started With A Matchmaking Saint…

The Catholic Church recognizes at least three martyred saints called Valentine or Valentinus. The legend most attributed to the holiday, though, is about a man executed by the Roman Emperor Claudius for marrying people clandestinely. The legend further states that Valentine sent the first, well, Valentine—a note to the daughter of his jailer, with whom he was besotted. This, if it occurred, was around 270 AD.

Some scholars conjecture that our current timing for celebrating St. Valentine’s Day (mid-February) is a holdover from a Roman fertility celebration that culminated in singles randomly being paired off. Like an Italian key party.

The bones of someone presumed to be Saint Valentine were given to an Irish church by Pope Gregory XVI in 1836. You can see the casket any Valentine’s Day at Our Lady of Mount Carmel at Whitefriar Street in Dublin. Meanwhile the oldest-known Valentine in existence—sent by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife after his capture during the Battle of Agincourt—is on display in the British Museum.