Apparently, Saint Valentine may or may not have existed. If he existed, he might have been a Roman priest, a bishop, or a dude in Africa. Regardless of who he was or wasn't, it's fairly certain that he may or may not have been martyred late in the third century.
He didn't have a thing for hearts. That, along with the whole association with romantic love, was apparently made up by Chaucer in the fourteenth century. That's a full 1,100 years after Valentine possibly, might have, coulda-woulda-been existed.
I read about that here.
So, to recap, we have a reasonably large commercial holiday based on the fact that a fourteenth century English author made up stuff about a third century Roman priest who may or may not have died for his devotion to Christ.
And yes, this is exactly the sort of thing that people who don't have dates on a holiday dedicated to dates write about. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to spend a quiet evening reading a book alone in my dark, cold, empty apartment... because I want to. Really.
He didn't have a thing for hearts. That, along with the whole association with romantic love, was apparently made up by Chaucer in the fourteenth century. That's a full 1,100 years after Valentine possibly, might have, coulda-woulda-been existed.
I read about that here.
So, to recap, we have a reasonably large commercial holiday based on the fact that a fourteenth century English author made up stuff about a third century Roman priest who may or may not have died for his devotion to Christ.
And yes, this is exactly the sort of thing that people who don't have dates on a holiday dedicated to dates write about. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to spend a quiet evening reading a book alone in my dark, cold, empty apartment... because I want to. Really.
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