The evolution of Valentine’s Day, from two early Christian martyrs to today’s multi-billion dollar industry is a bit of a strange tale.
Saint Valentine of Rome is said to have worn an amethyst ring engraved with a heart on it, enabling Early Christian soldiers of Rome to identify him so he could perform marriage ceremonies for them. When he was brought before the Roman emperor in 269 to recant, he refused and tried to convert Claudius. It didn’t go well, but before he was killed, Valentine cured the blindness of his jailer’s daughter, Julia, and wrote her a note signed, “Your Valentine.” She planted an almond in memory.
A macabre relic of St. Valentine still exists. His skull, crowned with flowers and with his name stenciled across the forehead, now resides in an ossuary that looks like a little Art Deco TV, complete with legs. It can be viewed in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin.
The first association of St. Valentine with romantic love comes from Chaucer, who wrote a poem called Parliament of Fowls, in which birds chose their mates, to commemorate the engagement of 15-year-old Richard II to Anne of Bohemia, in the 14th century. Hearts and keys came to symbolize courtly love, and the now-infamous “roses are red, violets are blue” was penned in 1590.
The commercialization of Valentine’s Day can be traced to 1797 when The Young Man’s Valentine Writer was published. It contained sentimental verses for the poetry-challenged suitor.
Nowadays 1 billion Valentines cards are exchanged in the US alone, if the ones traded by grade-schoolers are included, and candy sales for Valentine’s Day last year was 2.4 billion dollars!
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