St. Valentine

St.Valentine's tell us the real story

Let me introduce my self. My name is Valentine. I lived in Rome during the third century. That was long,long ago! At that time, Rome was ruled by an emperor named Claudius. I didn't like Emperor Claudius, and I wasn't the only one! A lot of people shared my feelings.

Claudius wanted to have a big army. He expected men to volunteer to join. Many men just didn't want to fight in wars. They didn't want to leave their wives & families. As you might have guessed, not many men signed up. This made Claudius furious. So what happend? He had a crazy idea. He thought that if men were not married, they would notmind joining the army. So Claudius decided not to allow any more marriages. Young people thought his new law was cruel. I thought it was preposterous! I certainly wasn't going to support that law!

Did I mention that I was a priest? One of my favorite activities was to marry couples. Even after Emperor Claudius passed his law, I kept on performing marriage ceremonies - secretly of course - It was really quite exciting. Imagine a small candlelit room with only the bride & groom & myself. We would whisper the words of the ceremony, while listening for the steps of soldiers.

On night, we did hear footsteps. It was scary! Thank goodness the couple I was marrying escaped in time. I was caught. (Not quite as light on my feet as I used to be, I guess) I was thrown in jail & told that my punishment was death.

I tried to stay cheerful. And do you know what? Wonderful things happend. Many young people came to the jail to visit me. They threw flowers & notes up to my window. They wanted me to know that they too believed in love.

One of these young people was the daughter of the prison guard. Her father allowed her to visit me in the cell. Sometimes we would sit & talk for hours. She helped me to keep my spirits up. She agreed that I did the right thing by ignoring the Emperor Claudius and going ahead with the secret marriages. On the day I was to die, I left my friend a little note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. I signed it "Love from your Valentine"

I believe that note started the custom of exchanging love messages on Valentine's Day. It was written on the day I died, February 14, 269 A.D. Now, every year on this day, people remember. But most importantly, they think about love and friendship. And when they think of Emperor Claudius, they remember how he tried to stand in the way of love, and they laugh because they know that love can't be beaten!