Valentine’s Day was not “created” in a single moment by one person. It formed over centuries as several traditions overlapped: an early Christian feast day honoring one (or more) martyrs named Valentine; later medieval literature that linked that feast day to romance; and, much later, the growth of card‑sending and gift‑giving as popular and commercial customs. (Encyclopedia Britannica)
In the Christian calendar, February 14 became associated with “St. Valentine,” but the historical picture is hazy because multiple early Christian martyrs carried the name Valentine. Modern summaries often point to a Valentine who was martyred in Rome around the 3rd century, and sometimes also to a Valentine connected with Terni (Italy); some accounts treat these as separate figures, while others suggest they may be the same person remembered differently. (Encyclopedia Britannica)
Around these martyrs, popular legends accumulated. Two of the best‑known stories say Valentine either (a) secretly married couples in defiance of an imperial ban, or (b) wrote a farewell note signed “from your Valentine” while imprisoned. These stories are influential in explaining today’s themes of devotion and message‑giving, but they are presented as legends rather than well‑documented biography, and even the Catholic Church has acknowledged the lack of reliable historical detail about Valentine’s life. (Encyclopedia Britannica)
A separate—and frequently misunderstood—strand comes from ancient Rome. Mid‑February featured Lupercalia (traditionally associated with February 15), a festival described in many popular histories as a purification and fertility rite with rough, raucous customs. Because Lupercalia sat close to February 14 on the calendar, it is often cited as a “pagan origin” of Valentine’s Day. (HISTORY)
However, reputable modern historians also caution that the direct connection is uncertain. The timing overlap helped spark speculation, but evidence for a clean “replacement” (or for romantic matchmaking rituals at Lupercalia that later became Valentine’s Day) is contested; some scholarship argues there may be little relationship beyond proximity on the calendar. (TIME)
What is firmer is that Church authorities did move against Lupercalia in late antiquity. Pope Gelasius I is associated with the abolition of Lupercalia after controversy in Rome, and later writers sometimes credit him with “replacing” the festival with St. Valentine’s Day—though careful treatments usually describe the broader origin story as complicated and not definitively proven. (Catholic Answers)
The biggest turning point for “the creation of Valentine’s Day as a romance holiday” comes much later, in the Middle Ages. Sources consistently note that Valentine’s Day was not widely treated as a romantic celebration until about the 14th century. (Encyclopedia Britannica)
In that period, Geoffrey Chaucer and his literary circle are widely credited with helping attach romantic meaning to “Saint Valentine’s Day.” Chaucer’s poem “Parliament of Fowls” is commonly cited as an early English text linking St. Valentine’s Day with courtship—framing it as the day when birds come to choose their mates, a poetic device that helped fuse a calendar feast day with the idea of pairing and love. (College of Arts and Sciences)
By the 1400s, the holiday begins to look more like a tradition of personal messages. A famous milestone often described as the oldest known surviving “valentine” is a love poem from 1415 attributed to Charles, Duke of Orléans, written while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London, using “Valentine” as a term of endearment. (thefrickpittsburgh.org)
From there, the practice evolves into the recognizable modern customs. In Britain, Valentine exchanges expanded from handwritten notes into a major mail tradition, especially once postage became cheaper and simpler. One documented accelerator was the introduction of the Uniform Penny Post in 1840 (and the Penny Black stamp), after which the number of valentines sent surged dramatically through the 19th century. (London Museum)
In the United States, Valentine’s Day cards existed earlier, but mid‑19th‑century entrepreneurship helped popularize them on a wider scale. Esther Howland of Worcester, Massachusetts, is widely credited with commercially distributing ornate, English‑style, hand‑decorated valentines and helping make Valentine cards a mainstream practice in the U.S. (The Library of Congress)
One final note that can add helpful nuance in this article: because so little reliable information exists about the historical Valentine(s), the Vatican removed St. Valentine from the General Roman Calendar in 1969 (while still recognizing him as a saint). This underscores why the “creation” story is best told as an evolution—part feast day, part medieval literary re‑imagining, and part modern social and commercial tradition. (Encyclopedia Britannica)
