VALENTINE DAY SPECIAL 2014

Saint Valentine's Day, also known asValentine's Dayor theFeast of Saint Valentine,[1]is observed onFebruary 14each year. It is celebrated in many countries aroundthe world, although it remains a working day in most of them.St. Valentine's Day began as a liturgical celebration of one or more earlyChristiansaints namedValentinus. Several martyrdom stories were invented for the variousValentines that belonged to February14, and added to latermartyrologies.[2]A popular hagiographical account of Saint Valentine of Rome states that he was imprisoned for performingweddingsfor soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians, who werepersecuted under the Roman Empire. According tolegend, duringhis imprisonment, he healed the daughter of his jailer, Asterius. An embellishment to this story states that before his execution he wrote her a letter signed "Your Valentine" as a farewell.[3]Today, Saint Valentine's Day is an officialfeast dayin theAnglican Communion,[4]as well as in theLutheran Church.[5]TheEastern Orthodox Churchalso celebrates Saint Valentine's Day, albeit onJuly 6andJuly 30, the former date in honor of the RomanpresbyterSaint Valentine, and the latter date in honor of Hieromartyr Valentine, the Bishop of Interamna (modernTerni). In Brazil, theDia de São Valentimis recognized on June 12.The day was first associated withromantic lovein the circle ofGeoffrey Chaucerin theHigh Middle Ages, when the tradition ofcourtly loveflourished. In 18th-century England, it evolved into an occasion in whichloversexpressed their love for each other by presenting flowers,offeringconfectionery, and sendinggreeting cards(known as "valentines"). Valentine's Day symbols that are used today include theheart-shapedoutline, doves, and the figure of the wingedCupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-producedgreeting card