Who was Valentine's Day and why is he the saint we associate with love?

Valentine's Day is well marked in the calendar of some, especially in the stores of several countries of the world.

February 14 is the day to celebrate love, even friendship.

But who was Valentine's Day?

And above all, why do we badociate it with romance?

Pre-Christian roots

Based on several legends, experts believe that the current Valentine's Day originates from a three-day festival of ancient Rome.

Since the mythical installation Evandro, king of the Arcadians, these days were celebrated the Lupercals.

They honored Lupercus, the protector of the shepherds and their flocks.

And also the wolf who fed the twins Romulus and Remus, who according to another legend would be the founders of Rome.

The holiday marked the beginning of spring and celebrated fertility.

It was therefore a pagan festival.

In 494 AD, Pope Gelasius I decided to convert him into a Catholic feast, as happened with other non-religious celebrations from the fifth century AD.

For that, however, he needed a saint to whom he would badociate the commemoration. And he chose Valentin.

Thus, February 14, 494 was the first day of Valentine's Day.

But today, we do not know who this martyr was.

Three valentines

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the saint whose holiday falls on Valentine's Day is perhaps one of three martyrs executed during the time of the Roman Empire:

A Roman doctor became a priest and the emperor Claude "The Gothic" ordered to behead in 270.

A bishop from the city of Interamna, today Terni, Italy. The remains of his body are preserved in the basilica of the city, whose feast day is celebrated on February 14th.

A bishop also called Valentin de Recia lived in the fifth century and was buried in Mais, near Merano, in the Italian Tyrol.

But the most well-known story is that of the first, that of the Roman physician who embraced the Christian faith and was ordained a priest.

At that time, in the year 270 BC, Emperor Claudius II banned the marriage of young people because, in his opinion, unmarried sons were better soldiers.

According to legend, the priest Valentín considered the decree as unfair and challenged the emperor.

He did so by secretly marrying young couples.

According to the story, the actions of the priests reached the ears of the emperor and called him to the palace.

The legend also tells that Valentine, converted to Christianity, took the opportunity to talk to the emperor about his faith.

And although it seems at first that the emperor was interested in what he had heard, he was dissuaded by the governor of Rome and was ordered to behead him.

That's why Valentine is considered the protector of lovers.

With saint, without celebration

After the appointment of Pope Gelasius I on February 14, 494, the first official day of St. Valentine's Day, the feast was inscribed on the traditional liturgical calendar and celebrated by the Catholic Church over the next 15 centuries.

But in 1969, under the pontificate of Paul IV and after the Second Vatican Council, it was removed from the calendar.

So it was an appointment with holy but without celebration.

Even though it was already late. The celebration had taken root in several societies.

In the twentieth century, trade became an important business when the industrial revolution allowed the production of greeting card chain, one of the most frequent gifts of Valentine's Day.

Americans, for example, are spending more than 18.9 billion US dollars in cards and other details for this day, according to the US National Trade Federation.

Thus, the Feast of Fertility in Ancient Rome, which later became the day of the commemoration of a martyr, became a great global enterprise.