Valentine's Day

Who was Valentine and why is it associated with love?Valentine's Day is in the popular calendar, especially in the stores of various countries of the world.February 14 is the day to celebrate love and friendship.

 Based on several legends, historians believe that the current Valentine's Day has its origin in a festival of Ancient Rome.

 The party marked the beginning of spring and celebrated fertility.It was, then, a pagan festival. In the year 494 after Christ, Pope Gelasius I decided to turn it into a festival. For this, he needed a saint And he chose Valentine.

 So it was that on February 14, 494, it was the first day of Valentine's Day. But today it is not clear who was that martyr.According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the saint whose holiday fell on the date known today as Valentine's Day was possibly one of the three martyrs executed at the time of the Roman Empire.A Roman doctor who became a priest and whom the Emperor Claudius "The Gothic" ordered beheaded in the year 270.A bishop of the city of Interamna, currently Terni, Italy. The rest of its body is conserved in the basilica of the city, and the patronal feast is celebrated the 14 of February.

 A bishop also called Valentin de Recia who lived in the fifth century. But the best known story is that of the first, that of the Roman doctor who embraced the Christian faith and was ordained a priest.

 At that time, in the year 270 BC, Emperor Claudius II forbade the marriage of young people, because according to him, the single men without children were better soldiers.According to the story, the priest Valentin considered the decree unfair and challenged the emperor.And secretly to young couples.The actions of the priests irritated the emperor and brought him to the palace and ordered him to be beheaded.

 And so it is now considered Valentine patron of lovers.

 The Catholic Church does not consider it a holiday,only that it became a big business in the twentieth centuryfor those of greeting cards, in one of the most frequent love or friendship demonstrations on Valentine's Day.