Ever wonder about the origin of Valentine’s Day?

“And walk in love, as Christ also has
loved us and given Himself for us,
an offering and a sacrifice to God
for a sweet-smelling aroma.”
Ephesians 5:1-2

This story of Valentinus (ca. 269 AD) is excerpted from Foxe: Voices of the Martyrs, which was written by John Foxe and The Voices of the Martyrs and published in 2007.

The story goes like this:

Three 3rd-century martyrs all carry the name Valentinus. One was a priest in Rome, one a bishop of Interamna and one a Christian in the Roman province of Africa. About the lives of these three, we know nothing. About the death of Valentinus at the decree of Claudius II, we think the story hinges on soldiering, marriages and a cold-hearted emperor—all the ingredients of passion and power that prompted Pope Gelasius in 496 to declare St. Valentine’s Day as a replacement for the Roman pagan holiday of Lupercalia.

Apparently, recruits for Claudius’s army were complaining about their long separations from wives and lovers, for the edict went forth that no soldier of Rome—may their hearts grow bloodlessly cold—could weaken his will or soften his courage in marriage. Of course, edicts do not command passions, so marriages simply went underground with an assist from the sympathetic priest Valentinus, to whom soldiers and their betrothed surreptitiously fled.

In time, the priest was caught and his treasonous disobedience duly sentenced by the Prefect of Rome. He was beaten by clubs and beheaded on February 14, in either 269 or 270 AD.

It’s an unlikely subplot, but nonetheless another story is told that during his imprisonment, Valentinus tutored his jailor’s daughter, Julia, who was blind from birth. On the eve of his martyrdom, Valentinus sent her a note of encouragement and faith, including on it a yellow crocus. When Julia opened the note, the story goes, her blind eyes fixed on the flower and she was healed. In gratitude, Julia planted an almond tree near Valentinus’s grave. Today, the almond tree remains a symbol of abiding love and friendship.

This Valentine’s Day, consider Valentinus and others whose faith caused them to give the ultimate sacrifice: their lives.