Celebrating the Feast of St. Valentine's Day

Saint Valentine’s Day is almost here!

Get ready for the familiar onslaught of Cupids shooting arrows, red roses, and little pastel candy hearts bearing messages like “Be Mine” and “Love You.” It’s that time of year again when parents feel the pressure to make sure their child has Valentines for every kid in class, and when couples rush to secure their dinner reservations weeks in advance.

But for many people, Valentine’s Day doesn’t feel romantic or celebratory at all. It can quietly exclude whole swathes of people, those who are single, widowed, divorced, grieving, or simply without a romantic partner. In a culture that so tightly equates love with romance, February 14 can feel less like a celebration and more like a reminder of what’s missing.

Valentine’s Day has also become a highly commercialized holiday. This year, consumer spending on Valentine’s Day in the United States is expected to reach a record $29.1 billion, according to the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. Shoppers are planning to spend nearly $200 on average on gifts, experiences, and treats for partners, family, friends, and even pets, higher than ever before.

And yet, this wasn’t how the day began.

The Story of Saint Valentine

So, how did we start celebrating Valentine’s Day in the first place? The celebration began as Saint Valentine’s Day, a feast day in the church calendar honoring a man named Valentine. Like the saints we remember throughout the year, he felt called to serve the Lord and others, and he dedicated his life to faithful service in a time of intense persecution of Christians.

Valentine was a priest in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius II, who was known as “Claudius the Cruel” due to his bloody military campaigns. Claudius noticed that men were reluctant to join his army because they didn’t want to leave their wives and families. To counter this, he banned all engagements and marriages throughout the empire.

St. Valentine strongly disagreed and continued to perform marriages in secret, affirming the sacred union of couples despite the emperor’s decree. Word of his actions eventually reached Claudius, and Valentine was arrested. He was brought before the prefect of Rome, beaten, and eventually beheaded around the year 270 AD because of his unwavering faithfulness and defiance of what he believed to be an unjust command.

Romantic Love & the Love of Christ

Because St. Valentine was martyred for his stand and for marrying couples in defiance of imperial law, his feast became associated with romantic love. Legend also says that, while imprisoned, he befriended his jailer’s daughter and left her a farewell note signed “From Your Valentine.” This story, more tradition than verified history, is often cited as the origin of exchanging affectionate notes on February 14.

Regardless of the historical specifics, the deeper Christian meaning of Valentine’s Day lies in self-sacrificial love. We remember St. Valentine first and foremost because of his love for Christ and his willingness to suffer and die for righteousness. In this way, Valentine points us to the love of Christ, a love that is patient, kind, and courageous even in the face of persecution.

So, enjoy the traditions you like, flowers, candy, notes, dinner, but remember the real reason we celebrate: the faithful witness of a saint who lived and died out of love for Christ and others.

Celebrate the Attributes of Godly Love

If you and your family want to celebrate Valentine’s Day in a way that’s both fun and deeply meaningful, here are some ideas:

Read 1 Corinthians 13 together.This chapter beautifully describes what true, Godly love looks like. Discuss with your children how the love described here differs from Hollywood’s version:

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.Love never ends. — 1 Corinthians 13:4–8

Make your own “Valentines.”

Create cards for loved ones that include one of the attributes of love from this passage. This can be a powerful way for your children to reflect on what love is, not just what it feels like.

Widen your circle.

Create cards not only for close friends or family members, but also for someone who might otherwise feel forgotten on Valentine’s Day, a neighbor who lives alone, a grandparent, a parishioner, a teacher, or a friend who is single or grieving.

Bake heart-shaped cookies.

Use frosting to write words like patient, kind, and hope on the cookies. As you decorate and eat, talk about how these qualities reflect the love Jesus shows us every day.

Have fun celebrating those you love, but also take time to offer thanks to God for his faithful saint, Valentine, and for the perfect love we have in Jesus Christ.

the recipe -

Saint Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies

Cookies

• 1 cup butter

• 1 1/2 cups sifted confectioner’s sugar

• 1 egg

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring

• 2 1/2 cups flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar

  
  

Icing

• Confectioner’s sugar

• Red food coloring or beetroot powder

• Whole milk

  
  

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and extracts. Sift flour, soda, and cream of tartar together. Add to the butter mixture. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill overnight. Roll out and cut into heart shapes. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Divide the confectioner’s sugar into bowls, depending on how many shades of pink you want. Add varying amounts of coloring to the bowls. Add just enough milk to each bowl to make a thick, spreadable icing. Use the icing to write the attributes of love on the top of your cookies!