There
were at least two St. Valentines, legend tells us, both Christian martyrs
who were put to death on the same day, one an Italian priest and physician
and the other the bishop of Terni. Butler’s Lives of the Saints recounts
the priest’s story, which is almost identical to the bishop’s: “Valentine
was a holy priest in Rome, who . . . assisted the martyrs in the
persecution under Claudius the Goth. He was apprehended and sent by the
emperor to the prefect of Rome who, on finding all his promises to make
him renounce his faith ineffectual, commanded him to be beaten with clubs,
and afterwards to be beheaded, which was executed on February 14, about
the year 270.” Little else is known about this St. Valentine except that
he restored the sight of his jailer’s daughter, and only his or the
bishop’s name day has anything to do with the romantic traditions of
Valentine’s Day. February 14 had been associated with the mating of birds
in ancient times, making St. Valentine’s Day, which accidentally fell on
this date, an excellent choice for a day for lovers, the day also being
fairly close to spring, when, as Tennyson wrote, “a young man’s fancy
turns to thoughts of love.” It became the custom to draw lots for
sweethearts or valentines for the ensuing year on St. Valentine’s Day,
this practice probably deriving from a similar Roman custom said to be
taken from either the feast of Lupercalia, the Feast of Februata, or the
day honoring the goddess Juno, all of which fell around St. Valentine’s
Day. By the end of the eighteenth century the exchange of gloves and other
gifts that accompanied the drawing of lots became the exchange of letters,
which were sometimes secret and often humorous or insulting. These letters
evolved into the valentines that we know today, millions of these sent
throughout the world. In olden times English children celebrated
Valentine’s Day much as Halloween is celebrated in America today, going
begging or valentining from door to door, where they were often given
Valentine buns, sweet buns made for the occasion.