FACT 45: LOVE IS IN THE AIR!

Happy Valentine's Day (kind of late because I was away all weekend)! As we all know, Valentine's Day is typically a day celebrating love and compassion between intimate companions. Well, the truth is, it wasn't always related to romance.

Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine. The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome (Valentinus presb. m. Romae) and Valentine of Terni (Valentinus ep. Interamnensis m. Romae). Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was martyred about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. His relics are at the Church of Saint Praxed in Rome, and at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland.

It is said that it started becoming associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

It is often called one of the Hallmark Holidays.

Oh well, I still LOVE it!