February has long been known as the month of romance and the 14th of this month is when people celebrate and confess their love for that special someone in their life. Unlike other holidays, Valentines Day is actually celebrated throughout the world on this day mainly because love is something most people can associate with and it does not conflict with the various religions around the world.

What do you know about the origin of Valentines day? How did this tradition of love start and who was St.Valentine? Obviously St. Valentine must have been a man with a great passion for something but what? Today the Catholic Church recognizes three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, therefore there are three legends of how Valentines day got started.

All three of these men were martyred and who really started this ancient tradition is not quite certain but all of them are kind of romantic so perhaps you can decide for yourself from which legend did Valentines Day origin. One of these legends suggest that Valentine was killed as he tried to help Christians escape horrible Roman prisons where they were beaten and tortured.

Another legend claims that Valentine was a priest in the third century in Rome. At this time Emperor Claudius ll ruled Rome and what he did was to make it illegal four young men to get married. The reason for this was that Claudius felt that men without wives and families made much better soldiers than married men. Valentine felt this was an great injustice and still kept on performing marriages in secret.. When he was discovered, Claudius ordered Valentine to be put to death.

The third legend goes that while in prison, Valentine fell in love with a young girl who may have been the daughter of the jailor. Supposedly she was visiting him during his confinement and before his death Valentine he wrote her a letter which he signed; ?From Your Valentine?. Any of these three legends could have been the beginning of today's Valentines Day but which one, nobody can say for sure.

Regardless which of these legends actually was the origin of Valentines Day they were all filled with love and passion just as this special day is today. Love is what Valentines Day is all about and hopefully you have someone special in your life with whom you can share this special day. Happy Valentines Day!