You have to wonder whether St. Valentine and St. Patrick commiserate in Heaven about their feast days being somewhat obscured by their popular celebrations.
Treating your sweetheart to a nice dinner or a box of chocolates on this day is certainly a nice thing to do. However, as a part of your celebrations, be sure to call to mind Saint Valentine, whose real story is usually forgotten on his feast day.
St. Valentine of Rome (c. 270) was a priest who lived in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius II. Little is known of his life with certainty, except that he ministered to Christians who were persecuted and imprisoned for their faith, and died a martyr.
One account has it that the emperor banned all marriages and engagements in Rome, believing this was the reason Roman men were unwilling to serve in the army. Valentine defied this unjust decree and continued to perform marriages for lovers in secret.

He was arrested, and while in prison he restored sight to his jailer’s blind daughter, causing the jailer and his entire extended household, forty-six people in total, to immediately convert to Christianity. Upon hearing this, Claudius ordered Valentine’s execution. St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer’s daughter, whom he had befriended, and signed it “From Your Valentine.” He was beheaded on February 14th and so the Church made the day of his entrance into heaven as a martyr the day we celebrate his life and legacy as the Feast of St. Valentine, or Valentine’s Day. His remains can still be found today buried along the Via Flaminia in Rome.
Skull of St. Valentine of Rome
St. Valentine is the patron of many causes including bee keepers, betrothed and engaged couples, lovers, love, happy marriages, and young people.
The customs we associate with St. Valentine’s Day are traceable to the Middle Ages. Based on the tradition that birds began to pair on St. Valentine’s Day, lovers exchanged letters and tokens of affection on this day. We see references to these customs in literature from 14th- and 15th-century France and England.

St. Valentine died for his faith during a time of bitter persecution, serving those who needed the sacraments. His very status as a martyr makes him an apt patron for love: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). St. Valentine and his fellow-martyrs illustrate to us, through their sufferings, the depth of their love for Christ, Who is Love Himself, and those martyrs serve as examples to us of the depth of love we are to give to all those whom we encounter in proclaiming the Gospel & love of Christ Jesus in our daily lives.
As you enjoy your day with your sweetheart, remember the love of St. Valentine, which gave him the courage to suffer everything for the sake of his Beloved—and made him a saint.
Not all of us are called to prove our love by physical martyrdom, but we can live out the vocation to love by sacrificing ourselves in smaller, though still powerful, ways. In fact, sacrifices become sweet when we offer them up for love. Our prayer is that our Raspberry White Mocha St. Valentine Coffee that we created in honor of St. Valentine brings these heroic qualities of St. Valentine to you in your prayer with every sip you take. Remind yourself of the sacrifice of this great saint every day with this delicious roast.
May the life, legacy, and true Christina love of St. Valentine inspire you each and every morning to become a saint! St. Valentine, pray for us!