Valentine, Martyr at Rome, c.269

14 February -- Commemoration
If celebrated as a Lesser Festival, Common of Martyrs, page 464

Valentine was a priest or a bishop of Terni who was martyred at Rome under the Emperor Claudius. The connection of this celebration with lovers seems to be either as the traditional day in mediæval belief when birds mated, or more likely as being linked with the pagan Lupercalia festival in Rome, which occurred on the Ides of February. For Christians, the day marks an acknowledgement of an all-loving God who blesses those who love one another, as Jesus implored his own disciples so to do.