St. Valentine’s Day

I’ve written about the history of St. Valentine’s Day in the past and was quickly told it was extremely dry and people, for the most part, weren’t too concerned with its origins. I however disagree and think it’s very important to know why we celebrate this lover’s holiday.  So I’ll try to keep it brief.

One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men -- his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages (written Valentine's didn't begin to appear until after 1400), and the oldest known Valentine card is on display at the British Museum. It was a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt around 1415.  I believe it started, “This tower has nothing on MY tower baby”.

I find St. Valentine’s Day very charming. It’s one of the few days of the year when we should pay more attention to loving each other. I don’t mean in the that weirdo hippie way of the late ‘60’s and ‘70’s, or even in a Christian way, but that we are all brothers and sisters in the human race and we should respect and love all of our highly dysfunctional family.

I also find the way it has been taken hostage by greeting card companies and the chocolate industry a little unsettling. At some point they removed the “Saint” part from St. Valentine’s Day because they realized a non-denominational holiday is better business. An opportunity to make a buck on some lovelorn saps of any belief system is preferable to a specific ideology’s money.

But I digress, I’m not a practicing Catholic and I shouldn’t preach about the abandonment of the “Saint” in the holiday. That’s hypocrisy for sure.

I am looking forward to celebrating Valentine’s Day again with a woman I deeply love and respect. I miss that intimacy Valentine’s Day does create and I do long for it in my heart of hearts. I do miss a simple handholding, looking deeply into each other’s eye and feeling a warmth in my stomach and a knowledge that I’ll always feel that when I look at her and she at me.  But then, I’m kind of a romantic I suppose.

I do hope everyone has a wonderful St. Valentine’s Day and feels the love I hope to feel again soon. And hey, I love you.