Origin of Valentine's Day
Valentines Day started in the time of the Roman Empire. Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II - Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular military campaigns. Claudius the Cruel, as he was known at the time, was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that roman men did not want to leave their loves or families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome.
This was when a Christian priest named Valentine came to defend love in the empire. Valentine began to secretly marry couples despite the emperors orders. When Emperor Claudius was informed of these ceremonies Valentine was sent to prison where he remained until his death on February 14 in the year 270.
It wasn't until a few hundred years later when Valentine's Day began to develop as we know it. At the time Christianity was beginning to take control of Europe.
As part of this effort the Church sought to do away with pagan holidays. Valentine's Day came to replace a mid-February fertility festival called
Lupercalia. In honor of his sacrifice for love Valentine was made a saint and
Lupercalia renamed in his honor.
Until today the tradition of honoring Valentine continues. The themes of love and fertility taken from the ancient meanings of the holiday have endured and evolved with our contemporary adaptations of its meanings.