Why We Celebrate Valentine's Day.. The oldest Valentine
card still in existence was sent in 1415 by Charles Duke of
Orleans, at the time a prisoner in the Tower of London, to his
wife. The Valentine’s card is now preserved and displayed in the
British Museum. However, the origins of Valentine’s Day lie in
ancient Rome. Over the years the ever expanding Roman empire
became more difficult to police and there was an increasing
shortage of soldiers. Believing that married men were too
attached to their families and unlikely to sign up, Emperor
Claudius II banned marriage, thinking this would increase the
number of quality recruits. The story goes that a Christian
priest by the name of Valentine, seeing the unhappiness and
trauma that resulted, secretly married couples in defiance of
the new law. It wasn’t long before Emperor Claudius found out
about Valentine’s actions and the priest was imprisoned and
eventually executed on February 14th, 270. Whilst in prison,
Valentine was befriended by his jailer, a character called
Asterius. Asterius had a blind daughter and the jailer asked
Valentine to cure her, which he did. Shortly before his
execution, Valentine asked for writing implements and signed a
farewell message to the jailer’s daughter “From your Valentine”,
a phrase that has lived on, much to the delight of modern day
florists, rose growers and card companies!
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