February 14th is the day of love that captivates the hearts of people all around the world, especially in the United States. People most commonly think of this day as the one to give away candy, flowers, and to spend time with a loved one. Rarely do people think about the strange origins of this holiday. Two major stories have been passed on about the legend of how St. Valentine brought on the creation of Valentine’s Day

1. The first story is set back in ancient Rome. Saint Valentine, a priest of that time, performed all of the typical duties of a priest. Conducting marriage ceremonies was but one of his duties in which he took pride. At this same time, there was an emperor by the name of Claudius II. Claudius, having gone through tough relationship problems, issued a decree that all young men could no longer marry. This caused a major uproar in Rome, but not many were willing to face the emperor. Saint Valentine worked secretly against this rule. He continued to perform weddings behind the back of Claudius II.  In February, he was discovered. Soon afterwards, he was sentenced to execution and murdered. Valentine became known as a martyr.

2. Another story that could explain who Saint Valentine was also goes back to Roman origins. This story begins with people of the Christian religion being highly under persecution. St. Valentine was running an “underground operation” and was helping Christians escape by night. Aiding in the escape of Christians was a serious crime and when Valentine was caught, he was immediately put into jail. There, he was said to have fallen in love with the jailer’s daughter who, after many times of visiting Valentine, fell in love with him. Valentine wrote the first “valentine card” to this woman. It was also believed that this card was sent in February, though possibly not on the 14th. This began the tradition of gift giving to loved ones on Valentine’s Day. In the end, the exact origins of Valentine’s Day are not clear. A majority of the stories do allude to a man of high morals and great love towards those being oppressed. Valentines Day is now a holiday enveloped with heart filled exchanges and love and will be a day of love for a very long time.