Saint Valentine’s Day, commonly shortened to Valentine’s Day, is a
holiday observed on February 14 honoring one or more early Christian
martyrs named Saint Valentine. It was first established by Pope Gelasius I
in 496 AD, and was later deleted from the General Roman Calendar of
saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI.
The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey
Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.
By the 15th century, it had evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed
their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending
greeting cards (known as “valentines”).