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Good Stories for Great Holidays

Frances Jenkins Olcott

Section 16 of 135 - Table of Contents

SAINT VALENTINE'S DAY

(FEBRUARY 14)

SAINT VALENTINE

The good Saint Valentine was a priest at Rome
in the days of Claudius II.  He and Saint Marius
aided the Christian martyrs, and for this kind
deed Saint 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 honor 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 endeavored 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 Saint 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 wise.

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