St. Valentine's Story

Let me introduce myself. My name is Valentine. I lived in Rome during the third century. At that time, Claudius ruled Rome. 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 did not want to leave their wives and families. This made Claudius furious. So what happened? He had a crazy idea. He thought that if men could not marry, they would not mind joining the army. So Claudius decided to ban marriage. Young people thought his new law was cruel. I thought it preposterous! I certainly wouldn’t support that law!

Did I mention that I was a priest? I loved 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 and groom and myself. We would whisper the words of the ceremony, listening all the while for the steps of soldiers.

One night, we did hear footsteps. The couple escaped in time, but I was caught. (Not quite as light on my feet as I used to be, I guess.) They threw me in jail and said that my punishment was death. I tried to stay cheerful. And wonderful things happened. Many young people came to the jail to visit me. They threw flowers and 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 a prison guard. Her father allowed her to visit me in the cell. Sometimes we would sit and talk for hours. She helped me to keep my spirits up. She agreed that I did the right thing by ignoring the Emperor and going ahead with the secret marriages. On the day I died, February 14, 269 A.D, 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. 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!