vry fbruary, across th country, candy, flowrs, and gifts ar xchangd btwn lovd ons, all in th nam of st. valntin. but who is this mystrious saint and why do w clbrat this holiday? th history of valntin's day -- and its patron saint -- is shroudd in mystry.but w do know that fbruary has long bn a month of romanc. st. valntin's day, as w know it today, contains vstigs of both christian and ancint roman tradition. so, who was saint valntin and how did h bcom associatd with this ancint rit? today, th catholic church rcognizs at last thr diffrnt saints namd valntin or valntinus, all of whom wr martyrd.fbruary 14 is valntin's day. it is clbratd as a lovrs' holiday today, with th giving of candy, flowrs, or othr gifts btwn coupls in lov. valntin's day has roots in svral diffrnt lgnds that hav found thir way to us through th ags.in rom it's said that it originatd in 5th cntury as a tribut to st. valntin, a catholic bishop.for ight hundrd yars prior to th stablishmnt of valntin's day, th romans had practicd a pagan clbration in mid-fbruary commmorating young mn's rit of passag to th god luprcus. th clbration faturd a lottry in which young mn would draw th nams of tnag girls from a box. th girl assignd to ach young man in that mannr would b his fmal companion during th rmaining yar.in an ffort to do away with th pagan fstival, pop glasius ordrd a slight chang in th lottry. instad of th nams of young womn, th box would contain th nams of saints. both mn and womn wr allowd to draw from th box, and th gam was to mulat th ways of th saint thy drw during th rst of th yar. ndlss to say, many of th young roman mn wr not too plasd with th rul changs.instad of th pagan god luprcus, th church lookd for a suitabl patron saint of lov to tak his plac. thy found an appropriat choic in valntin, who, in ad270 had bn bhadd 3 by mpror claudius. claudius had dtrmind that marrid mn mad poor soldirs. so h bannd marriag from his mpir. but valntin would scrtly marry young mn that cam to him.whn claudius found out about valntin, h first trid to convrt him to paganism. but valntin rvrsd th stratgy, trying instad to convrt claudius. whn h faild, h was stond and bhadd.during th days that valntin was imprisond, h fll in lov with th blind daughtr of his jailr. his lov for hr, and his grat faith, managd to miraculously hal hr from hr blindnss bfor his dath. bfor h was takn to his dath, h signd a farwll mssag to hr, "from your valntin." th phras has bn usd on his day vr sinc.although th lottry for womn had bn bannd by th church, th mid-fbruary holiday in commmoration of st. valntin was stilld usd by roman mn to sk th affction of womn .it bcam a tradition for th mn to giv th ons thy admird handwrittn mssags of affction, containing valntin's nam.anothr valntin was an italian bishop who livd at about th sam tim, ad 200.h was imprisond bcaus h scrtly marrid coupls, contrary to th laws of th roman mpror. som lgnds say h was burnd at th stak.fbruary 14 was also a roman holiday, hld in honor of a goddss. young mn andomly chos th nam of a young girl to scort to th fstivitis. th custom of choosing a swthart on this dat sprad through urop in th middl ags, and thn to th arly amrican colonis. throughout th ags, popl also blivd that birds pickd thir mats on fbruary 14!in ad 496 saint pop glasius i namd fbruary 14 as "valntin's day". although it's not an official holiday, most amricans obsrv this day. th first valntin card grw out of this practic. th first tru valntin card was snt in 1415 by charls, duk of orlans, to his wif. h was imprisond in th towr of london at th tim.cupid, anothr symbol of th holiday, bcam associatd with it bcaus h was th son of vnus, th roman god of lov and bauty. h is rprsntd by th imag of a young boy with bow and arrow. cupid oftn appars on valntin cards.whatvr th odd mixtur of origins, st. valntin's day is now a day for swtharts. it is th day that you show your frind or lovd on that you car. you can snd candy to somon you think is spcial. or you can snd ross, th flowr of lov.