Who was Valentine?

We need to return to 14 February in the year 269 AD to understand how 's Day Valentino was born.

AD 269, was a bad year for Christians because the Romans did not have much in terms of respect for the followers of Christ.

The reason was that the Romans were pantheists and so they believed in many gods, while Christians believe in one God.

The idea that there can be only one God made the Romans feel very uncomfortable because the idea of 'One God' undermined the very existence of the Roman Empire.

So the Romans to the Christians have responded with their most powerful weapon - Persecution.

For years to come the amphitheater had a lot in terms of local stocks. The average Roman could spend Sunday afternoon watching the Christians being mauled by lions annoying or dismembered by burly as the leader of the Roman gladiators tried to do with them.

Emerging from this persecution, was a man that every card manufacturer and rose entrepreneur must be thankful for - a pig's head individual named Valentino.

Valentine was a devout Christian and even the threat of death by the Romans not deter him from practicing his religion.

He flaunted his beliefs in front of the Romans - even making secret Christian marriages in the middle of the night - a practice forbidden by Claudius II, Roman Emperor.

Such blatant disregard for the authority were to be killed, and as was the custom of the day, the decision was made to end the life of Saint Valentine.

The date of his execution is set for Feb. 14.

Concidentially, February 14th was also the day that the Romans honored Juno, the goddess of women and marriage and the queen of all gods. And the day Juno was something of an event in early Rome ...

So, boys and girls led a life very different - no mixed schools or kissing behind the bicycle sheds.

However, every year, in celebration of Juno, the young people participated in a game in which they were written the names of Roman girls on scraps of paper and put in jars.

The young U.S. dollars of time has a girls name from the jar, and this became their partner for the festival Juno. E 'was common for these couples to get married then.

The execution date coincided with Valentines this lottery Roman.

To add further to the mystery surrounding Valentine's Day, according to legend Valentino while sitting in prison awaiting execution he made friends with the jailers daughter. How that came about is anyones guess - a daughter jailers friendship with a man about to be executed ... hmm ...

However, San Val and his daughter became companions within captors, and it is said that on the eve of his execution he sent a farewell note that he signed 'From your Valentine'.

He did not know that those three little words would be immortalized as an indication of love for centuries to come.