Valentine's Day Origins

One of the 130 Heart Sculptures in San Francisco. This one is located in Union Square.

 We think of Valentine's Day as sort of a Hallmark Holiday. Buying flowers, jewelry, candy, etc.

Bubbly for Valentine's Day

 But it does have interesting origins dating back to Roman times. I copied this from the web (I have read the same story on many different web sites and this was the most concise):

Valentine’s Day-It all started many centuries ago, during those times when being a Christian was against the law. One of the legends says that a Roman Emperor Claudius the Second had forbidden his men to marry. He wanted them to be heartless and fearless soldiers, free of wives and girlfriends. Claudius apparently decreed that no marriages should be celebrated and that all engagements be broken off immediately. But one of the Christian priests didn’t obey the Emperor’s edict. Like Father Lorenzo in Romeo and Juliet, this priest (whose name was Father Valentine) secretly performed marriages in and around the city of Rome. Found out not too long later, Valentine was imprisoned where he languished and died. Legend has it devoted friends buried him in the church of St. Praxedes on the fourteenth of February, 270 AD.Father Valentine was a kind and wise person who had a lot of friends. They begged the Emperor to free him and sent letters and flowers to jailed Valentine. Many experts think that these were the first letters and flowers sent on Valentine’s Day. Another story says that Valentine was an early Christian in the time when Rome was unfriendly to this upstart religion. For helping some Christian martyrs he was seized, dragged before the prefect of Rome and cast into jail. There he was said to have fallen in love with, and cured the keeper’s daughter, Julia, of blindness. When news of this miracle spread, Rome’s leaders gave orders that Valentine should be beheaded. The morning of the execution, he is said to have sent Julia a farewell message signed, “From your Valentine.”

So as you enjoy this day of love and everything always remember it was not a great day for Fr.Valentine in either legends.

Saw this is in a local Sunglass shop and thought it was interesting

It is in my house

Enjoy Valentine's Day-A day of peace and love.