Back in the 1st Century, the Roman Emperor Claudius II believed married men did not make good soldiers because they were too distracted by their wives and families. To assure his empire maintained a strong military force, he issued an edict forbidding marriage. Legend has it that a priest named Valentine, seeing their anguish, would perform secret marriage sacraments for desperate young lovers.
When Claudius was alerted to this treason, he had Valentine promptly arrested and placed in confinement. He was offered salvation, if we were to renounce his beliefs and recognise the Roman gods as his sole faith. As an ardent believer in Christianity, Valentine refused and had the audacity to try to convert the angry Emperor in return! Claudius immediately condemned the priest to be executed.
While awaiting the fateful day in prison, Valentine is said to have fallen deeply in love with Claudius’s daughter, who was blind. He prayed for her night and day until the girl’s blindness was miraculously cured. Just before his execution on the 14th day of February, he wrote her a love note, which he signed ‘from your Valentine’. And thus the practice of sending notes to the one you love on February 14 began.
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