Religious Origin<\/span><\/h2>\nSaint Valentine was a mild-mannered man who, rumor has it, continued to help Roman soldiers marry the loves of their lives after the Roman Emperor Claudius II banned marriage for young soldiers. Claudius thought this would make better soldiers by taking away concerns for wives and children back home while fighting Rome\u2019s enemies on the frontier. When he found out that Fr. Valentine was helping soldiers disobey his order, he condemned the man to death, on February 14th, 269. His remains were guarded by Christians and St. Valentine\u2019s devotion to helping lovers marry became his tie-in to love and romance that we associate St. Valentine\u2019s Day with today.<\/span><\/p>\nRomantic Origin<\/span><\/h2>\nMany people believe that the secret marriage of soldiers to their wives is quite a bit removed from chocolate hearts and lines of prose about the love one shares for their partner. There must be another origin behind Valentine\u2019s Day.<\/span><\/p>\nSome folks believe that origin stems from the famous English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer. He bridged the gap between Saint Valentine and lovers by writing a poem that equated February 14th (Saint Valentine\u2019s Day) to the day that all birds find their mate, instead of the date that a saint was martyred. Since Chaucer was fairly popular amongst the elite at that time, the noble folk began to associate the date with overtures of love and romance. Chocolate hearts still weren\u2019t on the scene, but I’m sure there were other romantic gestures that \u201cdoth make thy lady swoon.”<\/span><\/p>\nOther Origins<\/span><\/h2>\nToday, it is obvious that the date has become a day to grow profit margins for greeting card companies. But the day doesn\u2019t have to be a transactional proof of adoration. You can make the day a true devotion to love by avoiding the traps of commercialized romance. Making something personal or just spending quality time with each other is truly enough to show real affection. While the intent can still be meaningful with the purchase of a gift, it doesn\u2019t have to be an expensive gift or extravagant meal. In fact, you could go the other way on the meal side, opting for White Castle or Waffle House, two places that <\/span>only<\/span><\/i> take reservations on St. Valentine\u2019s Day.<\/span><\/p>\nThink back to what Saint Valentine did. He risked his life to help lovers enter into a holy Christian union, knowing the Emperor would not think kindly of a priest disobeying his orders. While today\u2019s holiday obscures that honorable origin, as Gents we can continue to honor that, not what the modern culture tells us. If you can make February 14th about devotion and service to your love, you can have a Valentine\u2019s Day worthy of a martyr.<\/span> \n<\/span> \n<\/span>But maybe try and live like that every day, as well.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is your reminder that if you haven\u2019t already bought something special for your significant other, you better go online or to the store as soon as you finish reading…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":4493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[455,57],"tags":[61,1059,1058],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Martyrdom and Love: How St. Valentine's Day Came To Be - The Gents Blog<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n