Another Saint Valentine, it’s alleged, was killed for helping Christians escape prisons. The story goes that an imprisoned Valentine fell in love with a jailer’s daughter and sent her the first love letter signed “From your Valentine.”
Both of these stories have some obvious ties to romance, and both celebrate Christian love in addition to romance. Valentine the prisoner is even credited with sending the first Valentine to a loved one. The roots of this holiday, however, aren’t exclusively Christian. In fact, until Pope Gelasius officially declared the 14th to be a Christian event, there was another festival celebrated annually during the second week of February: Lupercalia.
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