Happy Valentine’s Day

Who started Valentine’s Day?

 In A.D. 270, two men named “Valentine” were imprisoned in February. One, a priest, defied Claudius II who had outlawed marriage for soldiers. The priest married soldiers anyway in secret.  When caught and sent to prison the priest came to love the jailor’s blind daughter and wrote her a loving message. He signed it, “Your Valentine.” The other man, also named ‘Valentine’, rescued many Christians from the Romans until he, too was put in prison. So maybe Valentine’s Day honors both of these Valentines. The first association with romantic love is said to have come from Geoffrey Chaucer, said to be the greatest English poet of the 14^th century. He wrote a poem called ‘The Parlement of Fowls’, parlement meaning a house or room. This famous work, published around the 1380’s, introduced a romantic meaning to the celebration of Valentine’s day. Most countries on Planet Earth appear to have some type of Valentine’s Day recognition, not necessarily held on February 14^th, however—and a half dozen or so countries do not celebrate it at all.