Tiffi does some googling

_Elsa_

As soon as Tiffi walks in the front door she turns on her laptop and then heads into the kitchen to start preparing dinner. While it’s cooking she decides to do some googling to see what she can find out Valentine’s Day.  She finds an article about the history of Valentine’s Day but she can’t remember now if she read anything about Saint Valentine. She decides to read it.

‘Who was Saint Valentine? (And what does he have to do with chocolate hearts?)

‘Saint Valentine’s Day was a feast day in the Catholic religion, added to the liturgical calendar around 500 AD. (Thanks, Pope Gelasius!) The day was commemorated for martyred saints named—you guessed it—Valentine. Differing legends celebrate three different saints called Valentine or Valentinus, but since very little was known about these men and there were conflicting reports of the Saint Valentine Day story, the feast day was removed from the Christian liturgical calendar in 1969.

But even though not much is known about the real history of the Saint Valentines on whom the holiday is based, the legend of Saint Valentine has several tellings. One legend says that Saint Valentine refused to convert to paganism and was executed by Roman Emperor Claudius II. Prior to his death, he was able to miraculously heal the daughter of his jailer, who then converted to Christianity along with his family. Another legend says a bishop called Saint Valentine of Terni is the true namesake of the holiday; this Saint Valentine was also executed.

But according to others—and this is how Saint Valentine became affiliated with a love-focused holiday—Saint Valentine was a Roman priest who performed weddings for soldiers forbidden to marry, because of an Roman emperor edict decreeing married soldiers did not make good warriors and thus young men could not marry. This Saint Valentine wore a ring with a Cupid on it—a symbol of love—that helped soldiers recognize him. And, in a precursor to greeting cards, he handed out paper hearts to remind Christians of their love for God.

Because of this legend, St. Valentine became known as the patron saint of love. The Saint Valentine prayer asks Saint Valentine to connect lovers together, so that two become one, and the couple remembers their devotion to God.

While the Saint Valentine story set the groundwork for establishing the day as a holiday for romantic love, what truly solidified the connection between Saint Valentine and love was a poem by medieval author Geoffrey Chaucer in 1381, which historians consider the origin of the “modern” celebration of Valentine’s Day, where we celebrate our romantic partnership with one other person.’ (Source)

Tiffi is happy that she took the time to read this article. Her phone starts ringing and it’s Elsa calling.

Let’s continue - Elsa talks to PrettyBubbles

Start at the beginning – Valentine’s Day 2021 (Part 1)