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St. Valentine’s Day

By Karl R. Keys, Esq.

In Rome in C.E. 270, Valentine enraged the emperor Claudius II,* who had issued an edict forbidding marriage. Claudius felt that married men made poor soldiers, because they would not want to leave their families for battle. The empire needed soldiers, so Claudius abolished marriage. Valentine, bishop of Interamna, invited young couples to come to him in secret, where he joined them in the sacrament of matrimony. Claudius learned of this ?friend of lovers,? and had the bishop brought to the palace. The emperor, impressed with the young priest?s dignity and conviction, attempted to convert him to the roman gods, to save him from certain execution. Valentine refused to renounce Christianity and boldly attempted to convert the emperor. History also claims that while Valentine was in prison awaiting his fate, he fell in love with the blind daughter of the jailer, Asterius...continue to full post

Full post as published by Capital Defense Weekly on February 14, 2008 (boomark / email).