History of Valentine’s Day

The history of Valentine’s Day—and the story of the patron saint of lovers—is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance and that Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. But who was St. Valentine, and how did he become associated with this ancient rite?

The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus who were martyred in the third century A.D. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II Gothicus decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to marry couples in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered his execution. Others insist St. Valentine of Interamna (modern-day Terni, Italy), a bishop, is the true namesake of the holiday. He, too, was beheaded during Claudius II’s reign for refusing to renounce his faith and converting new followers.

Other stories suggest Valentine might have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first “valentine” greeting, himself, after he fell in love with a young girl—possibly his jailor’s daughter—who visited him during his confinement.

Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine,” an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories all emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and—most importantly—romantic figure. By the Middle Ages, perhaps thanks to this reputation, Valentine had become one of the most popular saints in England and France.

Although some believe Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial—which probably occurred around A.D. 270—another theory is that the Christian church might have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Modern scholars dispute this idea given the few similarities between Lupercalia and the modern holiday, but it is true that passion was top of mind for ancient Romans in mid-February just as it is for many people today.

Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders, Romulus and Remus. To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, gathered at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf, or lupa. The priests then sacrificed a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. After, they skinned the goat and made its hide into strips, dipped those into the sacrificial blood and took to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Far from being fearful, Roman women often welcomed the touch of the hides, because they believed it would make them more fertile in the coming year.

Historical evidence of Lupercalia is spotty. However, we know the popular festival was observed for more than a thousand years. It became increasingly violent as time passed, drawing criticism from the likes of Cicero and some Christian leaders.

Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity but was outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”—at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 was St. Valentine’s Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love.

During the Middle Ages, a common belief across France and England held that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which added to the idea that Valentine’s Day should be an occassion for romance. The English poet Geoffrey Chaucer was the first to record St. Valentine’s Day as a day of romantic celebration in his c. 1380s poem “The Parliament of Fowls,” writing, “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.”

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine’s did not begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today is a poem Charles, Duke of Orleans, wrote to his wife in 1415 while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. (The greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London.) Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.

By the mid-17th century, Valentine’s Day had become a celebratory day in English folk tradition that marked the coming of spring. A written history of the holiday from the early 18th century describes rural Englanders drawing names from a vessel to find their Valentines. The matchmaking lottery was considered a good omen for a paired couple’s future marriage.

Cupid is often portrayed on Valentine’s Day cards as a naked cherub launching arrows of love at unsuspecting lovers. But the Roman God Cupid has his roots in Greek mythology as the Greek god of love, Eros. Accounts of his birth vary. Some say he is the son of Nyx and Erebus; others claim his parents are Aphrodite and Ares; still others suggest he is the son of Iris and Zephyrus or even Aphrodite and Zeus (who would have been both his father and grandfather).

According to the Greek Archaic poets, Eros was a handsome immortal who played with the emotions of Gods and men, using golden arrows to incite love and leaden ones to sow aversion. It was not until the Hellenistic period that he began to be portrayed as the mischievous, chubby child ever present on Valentine’s Day.

In addition to the United States, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. In Great Britain, Valentine’s Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century.

By the middle of the 18th century, it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes, and by 1900, printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions at a time when direct expression of one’s feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine’s Day greetings.

Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as “scrap.”

Today, according to Hallmark, more than 145 million Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas.