L-O-V-E

Love, chocolate, roses and chubby little naked angels are all symbols of today’s celebrated Valentine's Day. But it wasn’t always the happy, love-filled time that we’ve come to know. In fact, the origins of St. Valentine’s Day is steeped in mystery, murder and martyrdom.

While there are several versions of the story of the orgin of  Valentine's Day, some carry more validity than others.

Father John Melmer of the All Saints Catholic Church in Manassas said Father Valentine, whose name is Valentinus in Latin,  led a life of love and faithfulness as part of his vows to the Catholic Church.

Part of his priesthood calling was to assist the love and marriage martyrs during the persecution that was taking place under the reign of Claudius II.

Claudius II, also known as Claudius Gothicus, was a tough, tyrannical Roman Emperor who believed that by outlawing marriage, the men would become  more focused and thus  making them better soldiers, who would be more capable of bringing Rome back to its previous state of glory.

Ahhhh, Claudius … did he really believe that fighting would win over love? That he could stop the beating of hearts entwined in love and desire and thereby regain the royal Roman stand? Well, apparently, he did think that.  But not for long.

After refusing to relinquish his goal of adhering to the marriage vows in the Church, Valentine was captured and jailed by Claudius' men.  

Upon being jailed, it has been said that Valentine became friends with a jailor’s daughter and would communicate with her when she would visit her father at work. Throughout Valentine’s stay at the jail, Claudius' temper began to get the best of him.  The emperor  attempted other forms of cruelty upon Valentine and others who believed in the sanctity of marriage vows in the Catholic Church.

When Valentine refused to renounce his faith, Claudius decided to have Valentine taken out and beaten with clubs and then beheaded.

Valentine was killed on Feb. 14, 269 BC under the short ruler ship of Claudius, but not before leaving what could be called the first real valentine note, to the jailer’s daughter signed, “From your Valentine”.

Claudius' reign of cruelty lasted just two very short years in Roman history.

The epic tale of Valentine's history does not stop with a short note sent to someone he cared for. In fact, the tradition has lived on through the centuries.

Fast forward to the United States in the 1800’s where Miss Esther Howland received her very own hand-made card from a valentine in England and decided to take her Mount Holyoke college education for a whirl.

After purchasing supplies of paper and lace imported from England, she began a home business manufacturing commercially sold valentine’s cards to the public.

Her valentine business thrived, bringing in consistently growing revenues of more than $100,000 per year. She then retired and sold her business in 1881 to the George C. Whitney Company.

Valentine’s Day sales have soared over the years and have proven to be a relatively recession proof business. In fact, this year it’s estimated that 10 million e-cards will be delivered and more than 1 billion manufactured and home-made cards will be mailed or hand-delivered worldwide.

 American consumers are expected to purchase over $345 million dollars in chocolate candy and 189 million stems of roses.

While St. Valentine's Day is no longer celebrated in the Catholic Church of today, there's still an Obligatory Memorial practiced every Feb. 14 through Mass.

"It's interesting, we don't celebrate St. Valentine's memorial, but we do celebrate the memorial of St. Cyril and his brother Methoodius in Mass on the Monday, the 14th,"  Melmer said.

Now that you have the skinny on the history of Valentine's Day, why not: head to mass Monday morning, make dinner reservations at a nice local Manassas Park restaurant (there are plenty on our site to choose from), order a dozen roses, a box of chocolates and tell your sweetie how much they mean to you.