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St. Valentine's Story
Let me introduce myself. 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 did not want to fight in wars. They did
not want to leave their wives and families. As you might have
guessed, not many men signed up. This made Claudius furious. So
what happened? He had a crazy idea. He thought that if men were
not married, they would not mind 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 favourite 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 candlelight 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. 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 and told that my punishment was
death.
I tried to stay cheerful. And do you know what? Wonderful things
hap-pened. 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 the 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 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!
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