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Valentine's Day started in the time of Roman Empire. In ancient Rome, Feb. 14 was a holiday to honour Juno, who was the Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also knew her as the Goddess of women and marriage. On the following day, Feb. 15, began the Feast of Lupercalia.
The lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate. However, one of the customs of the young people was name drawing. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man would draw a girl's name from the jar and would then be partners for the duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fall in love and would later marry.
Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II, Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius the Cruel was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that Roman men did not want to leave their loved ones or families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome.
The good St. Valentine was a priest at Rome in the days of Claudius II. He and St. Marius aided the Christian martyrs and secretly married couples, and for this kind deed St. Valentine was apprehended and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. He suffered martyrdom on the 14th day of February, about the year 270. At that time it was the custom in Rome, a very ancient custom, indeed, to celebrate in the month of February the Lupercalia, feasts in honour of a heathen god. On these occasions, amidst a variety of pagan ceremonies, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed.
The pastors of the early Christian Church in Rome endeavoured to do away with the pagan element in these feasts by substituting the names of saints for those of maidens. And as the Lupercalia began about the middle of February, the pastors appear to have chosen St. Valentine's Day for the celebration of this new feast. So it seems that the custom of young men choosing maidens for valentines, or saints as patrons for the coming year arose in this way.

2007-02-09 04:11:08 · answer #1 · answered by Ananth 1 · 0 0

(from a missal:)
Feb 14-St. Valentine, priest and martyr--commemoration.
This holy Roman priest ministered to a great number of martyrs and was himself martyred about 270 A.D.

(from the Encyclopedia Britannica)
"Valentine, Saint (d. 3rd Century, Rome, feast day February 14)name of two legendary martyrs whose lives seem to be historically based. One was a Roman priest and physician who suffered martyrdom during the persecution of Christians by the Emporer Claudius II Gothicus and was buried on the Via Flaminia. Pope St. Julius I reportedly built a basilica over his grave. The other, bishop of Terni, Italy, was martyred, apparently also in Rome, and his relics were later taken to Terni.It is possible these are different versions of the same original account and refer to only one person.
St. Valentine's Day as a lover's festival dates at least from the 14th Century..............

2007-02-09 12:06:09 · answer #2 · answered by papyrusbtl 6 · 0 0

Probably to boost the business for a while!

2007-02-13 01:45:50 · answer #3 · answered by Magesh 1 · 0 0

It is not a holiday and every student bunks class for his/her love

2007-02-10 07:52:21 · answer #4 · answered by Rajesh 3 · 0 0

to keep our wife from killling you.

2007-02-09 11:53:00 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

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