medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear learned colleagues,
An email message from an advocacy group this week included the following account of the origin of St. Valentine's Day:
"What makes Feb. 14 the perfect day to reflect on the fairness gap is the origin of St. Valentine's Day. This mysterious saint has long been associated with romance, but why? Today, three martyred saints named Valentine (or Valentinus) are officially recognized. The legend behind the most plausible Valentine to have inspired our romantic holiday relates to a martyred holy man who defied the power of the Roman Empire and paid with his life. His cause: the injustice of denying some the right to marry.
"In the third century, the Roman Emperor Claudius II had decreed that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, so he outlawed marriage for young prospective warriors for the Empire. Believing this unjust, Valentine defied the decree and married young couples in secret. For his crime, he was put to death in AD 270. Prior to his death, legend has it that the condemned man fell in love with his jailer's daughter and he sent her a love letter, his last, signed 'Your Valentine.'"
Since I've never heard of a version of the Valentine legend that sounds at all like this, I'm skeptical. But maybe I'm wrong in supposing that some public relations person just dreamed it up. Have any of you ever encountered it (or parts of it) in a reasonably reliable source? What do you think?
Sherry Reames, English Dept., University of Wisconsin-Madison
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