Valentine's Day is drawing near, that day that melts the deep winter frost in the warmth of love...
At least that's the theory. Yet just as mysterious and accidental as love itself is the relationship of St. Valentine to the customs of the day named for him.
Legends abound regarding the origins of Valentine's Day. Some relate it to an ancient Roman fertility festival called Lupercalia, which apparently occurred on February 15th, not the 14th. The spoil-sport Encyclopedia Britannica, in the authoritative 11th edition of 1911, states, "Their appropriateness to the spring season is, in a general way perhaps, obvious enough, but the association of the lovers' festivals with St Valentine seems to be purely accidental."
As if that wasn't enough, this esteemed reference goes on to tell us there was more than one St. Valentine. "...VALENTINE, or VALENTINUS, the name of a considerable number of saints. The most celebrated are the two martyrs whose festivals fall on the 14th of February - the one, a Roman priest, the other, bishop of
Terni..." (Vol. 27, pp. 850-851) According to the less authoritative Wikipedia, Geoffrey Chaucer,
author of the Canterbury Tales, was the first to connect Valentine's Day with romantic love, in his poem, Parliament of Fowls, written to commemorate the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, which happened on May 3, 1381. Yes, that's right, May 3rd. You see that was another St. Valentine's day on the Church calendar. He went on to write a couple
more poems referencing Valentine's Day in connection with May 3rd.
