Today is Valentine's Day, the day on which we celebrate love. The holiday was named in part for an early Christian priest, St. Valentine, who was martyred for his beliefs on this day in about 270 A.D. According to legend, the priest fell in love with his jailer's daughter, and just before his execution, he wrote her a love letter signed, "from your Valentine."(The Writer's Almanac for February 14, 2014 with Garrison Keillor)
It's not known for sure that he fell in love with her. Before he was executed he performed a miraculous healing, causing the jailer's daughter to see for the first time. After his death, she planted a pink-blossomed almond tree at his grave. Love, apparently, is not always blind.
"Valentine supposedly had a face-to-face religious duel with the Roman Emperor Claudius II, where they each tried to convert the other, one to paganism and the other to Christianity. Unpersuaded, Claudius sentenced Valentine's head to be separated from his body." (Michael Caruso, Editor In Chief, Smithsonian Magazine)
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