Valentine's Day February 14

Many early Christian martyrs were named Valentines. The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni.

Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was martyred in 269 and was added to the calendar of saints by Pope Gelasius I in 496 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. The relics of Saint Valentine were kept in the church and catacombs of San Valentino in Rome. The flower-crowned skull of Saint Valentine is on display in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome.

Valentine of Terni became Bishop of Interamna and is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian in 273. He is buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location from Valentine of Rome. His relics are in the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni (Basilica di San Valentino).

Writings suggest that Saint Valentine performed clandestine Christian weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry. The Roman Emperor Claudius II is said to have banned this in order to expand his army, believing that married men did not make good soldiers.

However, historian George Monger writes that this ban on marriage was never issued and that Claudius II told his soldiers to take two or three wives for themselves after his victory over the Goths.

According to legend, in order to "remind these men of their vows and the love of God, Saint Valentine is said to have cut hearts out of parchment" and given them to these soldiers and persecuted Christians, a possible origin of the widespread use of hearts on Valentine's Day.

Saint Valentine supposedly wore a purple amethyst ring, usually worn on the hands of Christian bishops with an engraved image of Cupid, a recognizable symbol associated with love that was legal under the Roman Empire.

would recognize the ring and ask her to marry for them. Probably due to the association with Valentine's Day, amethyst became the February birthstone, believed to attract love.

The first description of February 14 as an annual celebration of love appears in the Charter of the Court of Love. The charter, purportedly issued by Charles VI of France at Mantes-la-Jolie in 1400, describes lavish festivities attended by several members of the royal court, including a party, lovers' song and poetry competitions, jousting and dancing .

In the midst of these festivities, the ladies present would hear and settle the lovers' disputes. No other court records exist, and none of those named in the charter were present at Mantes, except for Charles's queen, Isabeau of Bavaria, who may have imagined the whole thing while waiting for the plague .