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HISTORY OF VALENTINE’S DAY IN PICTURES

Valentine’s Day is a little under a week a way and what better way to prepare than a brief pictorial history lesson? First, let’s start the main character in our tale…

Meet Valentine, a priest during the third century in Rome.

Meet Emperor Claudius II, the guy in charge.

Emperor Claudius outlawed marriage stating that “single men made better soldiers.”

But Valentine continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret.

When Claudius discovered Valentine defied him, he was pissed.

Claudius ordered that Valentine be put to death.

While Valentine waited for execution in prison, he fell in love with a young girl.

The girl that visited Valentine was the jailer’s daughter.

Before Valentine was executed on February 14, 270 A.D., he wrote the girl a letter and signed it, “From your Valentine.” The first valentine ever exchanged!

While no one really knows the truth behind the multiple Valentine legends, the stories emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic, and romantic figure.