St. Valentine - Not the Saint of Love?

          Whomever St. Valentine was, its fairly certain that St. Valentine was not the Saint of Love.  There are at least 14 saints whom are named Valentine.  The one whose feast day is February 14 is something of an enigma.  It is known that he was buried at the Via Flaminia, north of Rome, but nothing more is really known about him.  He is said to have been a martyr, but nothing is known about the circumstances of his martyrdom.  Various lists of martyrs include him as a priest in Rome, a Bishop in what is modern Terni, or a faithful martyr in Roman Africa.
          In 1493, the Nuremburg Chronicle included a story about a priest of Rome who was martyred during the reign of Claudius II.  If this is true, it would put the date of his martyrdom between A.D. 268-270, as Claudius II was not in power for long. According to the Chronicle, he was a Roman priest who was marrying Christians, despite Roman edicts forbidding the practice.  After being arrested, he refused to recant, and was eventually beaten, stoned, and beheaded.  However, there is no evidence on where the Chronicle obtained its information, and again, this story, while a possible source of the legend of St. Valentine being a patron saint of lovers, has no verification and cannot be seriously considered.
          The earliest mention in historical records of February 14 being connected with lovers comes in Chaucer's Parliament of Foules, published in the late 1300's.  This is the first mention of romantic traditions being associated with February 14, and/or with the commemoration of the feast of St. Valentine.  It has even been argued by some that this feast was coopted as a Christian holiday from the pagan holiday of Lupercalia, a springtime cleaning and purging festival that happened about this time of year.  While this is certainly possible, and the early Church was not above such things, (i.e. Christmas conveniently being held about the same time as the Roman Saturnalia), there isn't any direct evidence of this either.
           The long and short of it, we don't know how the romantic link to February 14 started, and while we don't know where it started, we celebrate it to this day. Millions of dollars are spent on cards, candy, gifts and other things in the name of "love"., and many seem to believe that St. Valentine is actually behind the holiday as we know it.  More likely, Hallmark and the jewelry and chocolate merchants are behind it as we have it now, but it does nothing wrong to be kind to someone you love on the feast of St. Valentine.