We can thank the bawdy Geoffrey Chaucer and the not-so-bawdy tradition of courtly love for our modern celebration of Valentine’s Day–when couples become the focus of attention. As for St. Valentine himself, church historians have martyrs named Valens, Valentin, or Valentinin but the favorite attribution is that of a Christian priest, Valentine. In the third century AD, he performed marriages for soldiers, all of whom were forbidden to marry by Rome.
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