People all over the world have come to celebrate Valentine’s Day or rather, Saint Valentine’s Day as it was known earlier. It has been there since the 496AD. The day was first observed by Pope Gelasius I for honoring one or more Christian martyr saints named Saint Valentine. As described in Legenda aurea, Saint Valentine was prosecuted as a Christian saint by Claudius II. It is believed that the Roman emperor was extremely pleased with the the saint and wanted to convert him to a Roman to save his life. The saint however resisted this and instead tried to convince the king that he must convert to Christianity! In order to make a connection between this story of self sacrifice of a priest while doing his duties and the sentimental love between a couple, the modern world has tailor made a story, according to which Claudius II had allegedly framed a law barring the young men of his country from marrying. This was to form a strong army as he believed that married men do not make good soldiers. What’s even more heartening is the fact that Saint Valentine’s name has been splashed with mud. It has been declared that he opposed this and hence used to perform secret marriages to marry off young men. With the irrepressible desire to add more spice to the already vague story, the modern legends added that the saint himself wrote the first “valentine” card for a blind girl just before the night of his execution.
Whoa! The priest who guarded his religion so faithfully and made such a big sacrifice for it, was picturised as a man who preached and spread “love” for his countrymen. What a shame. This story has got no evidence and hence the basis on which people all over the world celebrate this day is nothing but a false, adulterated story! Strange isn’t it?
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