The truth is, we know nothing for sure about anybody named Valentine other than he was martyred like many other early Christians on February 14 and is buried outside of Rome. Maybe there wasn't even one Valentine. Valentine was actually a pretty common name and there were a lot of Christians martyred in Rome.
Around this time there was another one of those Roman Pagan celebrations of romance. We do love our pagan celebrations. It's way too complicated to get to the bottom of it.
But around the middle ages you get this wonderful story about a St. Valentine, that like most beautiful stories, is a true story, regardless of whether or not it really happened.
The Roman Emporium Claudius was smart enough to know that bachelors make better soldiers than family men so Roman soldiers were forbidden to marry. But Christian soldiers, ever the proponents of "Family Values" wanted to get married. Valentine was the priest to oblige them. His acts of civil disobedience ended him up in jail.
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