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St. Valentine Kneeling In Supplication by David Teniers III
Is it England? After all, Valentine’s Day has been associated with romantic love in the English speaking world for a long time. Chaucer wrote about it in his story “The Parlement of Foules” way back in 1382. Or is it Rome: the quintessential romantic city? The Roman pagans celebrated a fertility festival called Lupercalia from February 13th to the 15th each year. Lupercalia was abolished by the same Pope who made Saint Valentine’s Day official.
So where was the original Saint Valentine martyred?
Well, to be fair, not much is known for sure. In fact, there were several Saint Valentines in ancient times. But the Valentine celebrated on February 14th was martyred along the Via Flaminia, just outside of Rome, the answer to our quiz.
Oh, and one more thing before we leave poor Valentine in peace.
According to most scholars, neither he nor his day had anything to do with love and romance until Geoffrey Chaucer made the connection in the 14th century.
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