Valentine's Day--a holiday for lovers, school-children who suprise their friends and teachers, restaurants with candlelight and music, crooners and blues singers. Cupid--the Roman God of Love and the son of Venus--the goddess of Love, was represented by a young boy with a bow and arrow. His shots are often lethal and he does not discriminate between gods and humans. February has been the month to celebrate love
Centuries after the death of Jesus Christ, Roman emperors required their citizens to believe in Roman gods. A Christain priest--Valentine--was thrown in jail for his teachings and was said to have cured his jailer's daughter of blindness. He was to be beheaded for the miracle and his religious instruction. The night before he died he wrote a letter to the jailer's daughter and signed it "From Your Valentine."
Another tale and another Valentine--an Italian bishop was imprisioned for secretly marrying couples during the reign of Claudius II in the third century. The Emperor thought that single men were better soldiers than married and outlawed marriage in order to establish a stronger military. When Valentine disobeyed the Emperor, the Emperor had him put to death.
During the middle ages, the custom of choosing a sweetheart on February 14 spread through Europe and then to the American colonies so Happy Valentine's Day everyone.
Elise
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