HISTORY OF VALENTINES DAY

Most of you people dont even know the meaning of valentines or even where it came from,,,so i got you some info,,,
The history of Valentine's Day is
obscure, and further clouded by
various fanciful legends. The
holiday's roots are in the ancient
Roman festival of Lupercalia, a
fertility celebration commemorated
annually on February 15. Pope
Gelasius I recast this pagan
festival as a Christian feast day
circa 496, declaring February 14
to be St. Valentine's Day.
Valentines Galore
Which St. Valentine this early pope
intended to honor remains a
mystery: according to the Catholic
Encyclopedia , there were at least
three early Christian saints by
that name. One was a priest in
Rome, another a bishop in Terni,
and of a third St. Valentine
almost nothing is known except
that he met his end in Africa.
Rather astonishingly, all three
Valentines were said to have been
martyred on Feb. 14.
Most scholars believe that the St.
Valentine of the holiday was a
priest who attracted the disfavor
of Roman emperor Claudius II
around 270. At this stage, the
factual ends and the mythic
begins. According to one legend,
Claudius II had prohibited marriage
for young men, claiming that
bachelors made better soldiers.
Valentine continued to secretly
perform marriage ceremonies but
was eventually apprehended by the
Romans and put to death. Another
legend has it that Valentine,
imprisoned by Claudius, fell in love
with the daughter of his jailer.
Before he was executed, he
allegedly sent her a letter signed
"from your Valentine." Probably
the most plausible story
surrounding St. Valentine is one
not focused on Eros (passionate
love) but on agape (Christian love):
he was martyred for refusing to
renounce his religion.
In 1969, the Catholic Church
revised its liturgical calendar,
removing the feast days of saints
whose historical origins were
questionable. St. Valentine was
one of the casualties.
Chaucer's Love Birds
It was not until the 14th century
that this Christian feast day
became definitively associated with
love. According to UCLA medieval
scholar Henry Ansgar Kelly,
author of Chaucer and the Cult of Saint
Valentine, it was Chaucer who first
linked St. Valentine's Day with
romance.
In 1381, Chaucer composed a poem
in honor of the engagement
between England's Richard II and
Anne of Bohemia. As was the
poetic tradition, Chaucer
associated the occasion with a
feast day. In "The Parliament of
Fowls," the royal engagement, the
mating season of birds, and St.
Valentine's Day are linked:
For this was on St. Valentine's
Day,
When every fowl cometh there to
choose his mate.