St Valentine’s Day – All The Facts

February 14th is well known as the special day for love and lovers. Yes, today is St Valentine’s Day, the day of slushy cards and greetings and cute teddy bears and chocolates. But why is this the case? Who even was St Valentine, and why is he considered the patron saint of all things love? And is it true that this most romantic of days was also the date of one of the most infamous gangster massacres of modern times?

Photo by Mine Demirkurt: https://www.pexels.com/photo/valentine-s-day-teddy-bears-with-flowers-30693196/

Read on to find out.

St Valentine – Why February 14th wasn’t the best day for him!

St Valentine was a 3rd Century Roman priest. He ministered to persecuted Christians during this most dangerous of times. Unfortunately this was discovered and he was tried and executed on February 14. This date has been observed as the Feast of Saint Valentine since at least the eighth century.

But why the association with love and lovers?

According to Wikipedia: There are many other legends behind Saint Valentine. One is that the priest Valentine defied the order of the emperor and secretly performed Christian weddings for couples, allowing the husbands involved to escape conscription into the Roman army. This legend claims that soldiers were sparse at this time so this was a great inconvenience to the emperor.^[35] The account mentions that in order “to remind these men of their vows and God’s love, Saint Valentine is said to have cut hearts from parchment”, giving them to these persecuted Christians, a possible origin of the widespread use of hearts on St. Valentine’s Day.

There is also another legend that says he fell in love with his jailers daughter, and sent her a farewell letter signed ‘from your Valentine,’ hence leading to a million hallmark greetings cards.

The Course of True Love Never Runs Smooth

There have been plenty who have tried to abolish the romantic traditions of Valentine’s Day. The original feast of St Valentine’s was outlawed after the Reformation although other celebrations did continue. Then the original Lord Fun, Oliver Cromwell, abolished Valentine’s Day (as well as Christmas, that bloke was a real fun sponge) as part of the Commonwealth of 1648-1660, but after his death and the return of the Monarchy, the celebration of love re-emerged with even more potency.

Valentine’s Big Business

There is no doubt that for all its romantic connotations,  Valentine’s Day is very cynically big business. They say you can’t put a price on love, but if you were to try, it would be a huge one. It is estimated that, in the UK alone, more than 25 million cards are sent on February 14th, with around 50 million roses sent around the World. Trying to get a table of Valentine’s night is just a nightmare, and getting married or engaged on this date is very, very popular. I, myself, got engaged on Valentine’s Day – quite the cliche!

St Valentine’s Day Massacre

It is ironic that the most famous event to take place on St Valentine’s Day is a blood spilling massacre of Chicago gangsters in the same year as the Wall Street Crash. The St Valentine’s Day massacre took place in 1929 when seven members of Bugs Moran’s gang were killed in a garage, presumably on the orders of Al Capone. This act has been immortalised in film many times over, including in Some Like it Hot, where musicians Gerry and Joe are forced to disguise themselves as women after witnessing the massacre.

Whatever you are doing this Valentine’s Day, make sure to enjoy your day.

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