Valentine's Day

The history of Valentine's Day -- and its patron saint -- is largely a mystery and clouded by various Mythological stories. Valentine's Day as we know it today has evolved and merged from various ancient Roman, Pagan and Christian traditions.

According to mythology, the Valentine's Day Celebrations originated from the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, a fertility celebration held annually on February 15th. As Christianity spread across Europe, Lupercalia, as with many other Pagan rituals, was renamed and recast as a Christian celebration. In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius declared February 14th to be a feast day, in Celebration of Saint Valentine, a Roman martyr from the 3rd century. The recast festival involved young Romans offering women they admired, and wished to court, handwritten greetings of affection on February 14th.

The mystery arises in attempting to identify which St. Valentine Pope Gelasius had in mind. The Catholic Encyclopedia identifies three St. Valentines, all of which, surprisingly, declared to have been martyred on February 14th.

The legend most commonly agreed upon is that of the Roman Bishop Valentine who live around 270 B.C. This St. Valentine fell into disfavor with the Roman Emperor Claudius II and was executed by the Emperor. The legend claims that Claudius II, believing that married men did not make good soldiers, prohibited marriage for young men. Bishop Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied the emperor's edict and preformed marriages in secret. Valentine was eventually discovered by the emperor and arrested and on February 14th 270A.D., he was executed.

I carry your heart with me
(I carry it in my heart)
I am never without it (anywhere
I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
I fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)

I want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

Here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)