Valentine's day, Chaucer and... commercialization?
14th of February is celebrated as Valentine's day worldwide. It is widely acclaimed as a day to celebrate love and romance. But it originated as the Christian St. Valentine's feast day. Now, who is this St. Valentine? Origin of St. Valentine's Feast Well, lots of Christian martyrs were named Valentine. The St. Valentine honoured on 14th February is in fact not one of them, but two (or maybe three?) of them— Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. Valentine of Rome was a Christian priest, martyred in the Roman Empire on that day in 269 AD. Valentine of Terni was a Christian bishop, who was martyred on the same day in 273 AD. Both these priests may have been the same person as they both were said to have married off Christian couples in secret, which was banned at that time. It is no surprise then that this is the day to celebrate love out of all those other Valentine feast days. Early records of martyrs also record a third Valentine under the same date who was ...