Valentine's Day History

When Christianity arose in Europe, the pagan nature of the holiday was a problem. Pope Gelasius changed the lottery so that instead of drawing the names of young girls, the names would be of saints and both men and women could draw a name from the box and strive to emulate that saint for the remainder of the year ("Valentine's Day"). It was also typical for pagan holidays such as Lupercalia to be renamed for early Christian martyrs, one of which was the 3rd century Roman martyr Saint Valentine ("History of Valentine's Day"). Interestingly, there were actually three different saints named "Valentine," and all of them were martyred on February 14 ("History of Valentine's Day").

One legend has it that Valentine was a 3rd century Roman priest who defied the Emperor Claudius II, who had outlawed marriage for young men in an attempt to gain better soldiers for his army ("The History of Valentine's Day"). Valenti

. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Valentine's Day, God Love, valentine's day, Pope Gelasius, history valentine's, history valentine's day, History Valentine's, Legend Valentine, Day Valentine, Day America, Day Interestingly, Claudius II, Lupercalia February, day legend, valentine's day legend, day legend valentine, legend valentine, god love, century roman, 3rd century, remainder valentine's, history cupid god, cupid god love, february 14, cupid god,
Approximate Word count = 832
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Valentine Day History