why was being married "illegal" in the period when Claudius ll ruled rome?

Question

why was it such a big deal that saint valentine did what he did? (which was preform secret weddings)

Answer 1

Catholics have actually removed Saint Valentine from the official feast calander, as there is substantial reason to believe that pretty much all the stories we have about this person are completely fictional. In fact, the Catholic Encyclopedia observes that there are THREE Saint Valentines, and that although they were all martyred before 500 BC, no customs surrounding February 14th arose until about a thousand years later (link 1).

Thus, any story you have heard is almost certainly false. There is no evidence that Claudius II ever created a law such as you mention. Even the Catholic church wouldn't try to say otherwise any more. Sorry.

Answer 2

Claudius wanted men to be soldiers rather than lovers. He figured men would join up rather than desert to be with their wives.

Yeah, it was a stupid plan. A lot of the Roman Emperors were pretty bad rulers.