The story of St Valentine
Although there are three saints called St Valentine, the Saint linked with February 14th was an Italian Christian named Valentine who became Bishop of Interamna. He was a very brave man and when the Roman’s forced him to say he wasn’t
a Christian, he refused. So, as a punishment he was put to death on February 14th 270 AD.The message of St Valentine is about love. He showed in his life that he loved God and Jesus so much that he was willing to die for his faith.
But why do we send Valentine cards today? And why are they often unsigned? Well in the past, in countries where people didn’t know about Jesus or God, near the date of February 14th, the boys had a custom of drawing the name of a girl out of container and she would be their girl friend. It was also thought to be a romantic time of the year because it was a time when birds began to find a mate.
When Christian teachers came to that part of the world they decided to change the custom and put names of the saints into the container instead so that the young people could draw out the name of a saint and then find out all about their saint. There was still a surprise but it wasn’t so unfair on the girls who might have been chosen by someone they didn’t like. It seems the girls didn’t get a choice.
Now instead of drawing a name out of a hat, we can send a secret card to someone we like, without them knowing who sent it. So there are still some surprises!
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