Most people know that Valentine’s Day falls on February 14th, and that it’s the most special time of the year for lovers. And even though more than a few people probably know it’s named after a saint, that’s where the common knowledge seems to stop. But there’s still a lot more to learn about this holiday.
Back before flowers were being delivered to offices and free ecards were being delivered to inboxes, Valentine’s Day was created by the Catholic Church to commemorate two martyred saints. Valentine of Rome and Valentine or Terni, are both widely considered to be the Valentine’s Day namesakes, though a third Valentine—nameless in history, and only briefly mentioned in church history as being from Africa—is sometimes mentioned.
The one thing that both—or all three, depending upon how you want to look at it—Valentines share is a rather ironic trait: there aren’t in any way associated with notions of romantic love. In it’s earliest days, Valentine’s Day was among the most sacred of religious holidays. It wasn’t until the early 1980s, in fact, that the holiday had become so secular that the Catholic Church had it removed from official worship calendars.
There isn’t really an historically-clear link between the sacred aspects of Valentine’s Day, and the tradition of lovers sending each other greeting cards and free Valentine ecards. All that is known for certain is that at some point in the 19th century in England, it became popular for lovers to exchange hand-written love notes between one another on Valentine’s Day. And as the years went on, and the notes became more popular, the notes themselves became more and more elaborate and creatively-designed.