Valentinus

In recognition of Valentine’s Day let’s stop a moment to see who Valentine is.  The great, if simplistic, work on history titled ‘Life In the Year 1000″by Robert Lacey has a good paragraph (and nothing more) at the end of the chapter on February.  I believe a partial paragraph of a book can be quoted for education and information purposes.  Valentinus was a third century priest martyred in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius.  “The details of St. Valentine’s life are obscure, and ecclesiastical experts have been unable to discover any reason why he should have become the patron saint of romance.  Historians note that mid-February was the occasion of the licentious Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia, when women sought cures for sterility, while folklorists trace the modern orgy of card-sending and candle-lit dinners back to the old country belief that birds commenced coupling on February 14.”  There is no definitive answer.

Happy day of Valentinus!