~
Saint
Valentine's
Day
~
As
early
as
the
Fourth,
B.C.
Back
in
the
Roman
Nation
A
boy
was
assigned
a
girl
For
a
one
year
duration.
Eight
hundred
years,
a
practice
Till
church
fathers
sought
its
end
They
found
the
answer
in
Valentine
Who
was
martyred
at
his
life’s
end.
Some
two
hundred
years
before
An
edict
by
Claudius-II
Forbade
marriage
in
the
Empire
(Not
too
smart
a
thing
to
do!)
There
were
forces
from
within
And
threats
from
lands
all
about
The
soldiers'
wives
and
families
He
thought,
they
could
do
without.
He
wanted
all
his
Armies
To
have
but
one
thing
on
their
mind
Hoped
that
one
Love,
of
Country
Would
make
them
a
special
kind.
Valentine,
a
church
bishop
Saw
young
Lovers
in
their
pain
He
met
them
in a
secret
place
Brought
matrimony
back
again.
He
joined
them
in
the
sacrament
Helped
them
make
their
marriage
vow
Going
against
the
Emperor’s
wishes
More
than
his
laws
would
allow.
He
learned
of
this
“friend
of
lovers”
And
had
him
placed
under
arrest
Tried
to
convert
him
to
the
Roman
Gods
But
Valentine
withstood
that
test.
He
even
tried
to
turn
the
tables
Show
Claudius
the
Christian
way
Knowing
he
would
be
executed
For
that
was
the
law
of
the
day.
While
Valentine
awaited
his
fate
He
made
friends
with
his
jailor
Who
had
a
daughter
who
was
blind
Who
searched
for
a
miraculous
cure.
Well,
Valentine
restored
her
sight
Through
his
faith
he
claimed,
divine
Wrote
a
last
farewell
note
to
her
And
signed
it,
“From
Your
Valentine.”
February
twenty-four,
Two
Seventy
He
was
executed
for
his
“crime”
And
thus
became
a
Patron
Saint
To
be
remembered
for
all
time.
There
was
an
annual
festival
Young
Romans
wrote
greetings
of
Love
To
young
ladies
they
longed
to
court
Which
Valentine
oversaw
from
above.
The
cards
were
named
after
him
The
Fourteenth
chosen
as
the
date
When
those
messages
were
passed
around
To
try
to
change
the
Lover’s
fate.
One
of
the
earliest
cards
known
sent
Was
by a
Duke
in
Fourteen-Fifteen
Preserved
in
the
British
Museum
Where,
still
today
it
can
be
seen.
And
to
this
day,
around
the
World
We
still
send
those
cards
to
Lovers
Asking,
“Valentine,
will
you
be
mine?”
And
sometimes,
we
even
ask
some
others.
Del
“Abe”
Jones
©
February
3,
2006
|