since it's Valentine's

Saint Valentine discovered a unique type of love. A love so exciting, so powerful, so overwhelming as to make the romance of Romeo and Juliet look like puppy love, and the affairs of Josephine and Napoleon, Anthony and Cleopatra, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor look second rate.

He lived in Rome during the third century. At that time, Rome was ruled by an emperor named Claudius. Emperor Claudius, was never a favorite of the people of Rome and also Saint Valentine.
Claudius wanted to have a big army. He expected men to volunteer to join. Many men just did not want to fight in wars. They did not want to leave their wives and families. Not many men signed up. This made Claudius furious.Claudius had a crazy idea. He thought that if men were not married, they would not mind joining the army. So Claudius decided not to allow any more marriages. Young people thought his new law was cruel. Saint Valentine thought it was preposterous! and decided not to support it.

Saint Valentine being a Priest, his favorite activity was to marry couples. Even after Emperor Claudius passed his law, he kept on performing marriage ceremonies secretly. Usually it would be in a small candlelit room with only the bride and groom and St.Valentine. They would whisper the words of the ceremony, listening all the while for the steps of soldiers.
One night, while performing the wedding ceremony St.Valentine heard the sound of the steps of soldiers. He made the marrying couple run in time but himself was caught. He was thrown in jail and told that his punishment was death.

While in prison he tried to stay cheerful and many young people came to the jail to visit him. They gave him flowers to show that they, too, believed in love.
One of these young people was the daughter of the prison guard. Her father allowed her to visit him in the cell. At times they would sit and talk for hours. On the day he was to die, he left his friend a little note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. He signed it, "Love from your Valentine."

It is believed that this note started the custom of exchanging love messages on Valentine's Day. It was written on February 14, 269 A.D., the day St.Valentine died. Now, every year on this day, people think about love and friendship. And when they think of Emperor Claudius, they remember how he tried to stand in the way of love.

Remember that love can't be beaten.

*heard mass with mama, the priest's version is different, far from this one..

- there was a daughter of the prison guard, a young girl..she was blind and found a friend in St. Valentine. she asked him to heal her and make her see the world..on his last day in prison before he is fed to the lions, he wrote a note for the little girl and told her; together with her maid, to go outside and go to the garden, pick a flower and wipe the petals on her eyes..she'd be healed and get to read the note he wrote for her..

then the little girl was healed and read the note, "now you can see how beautiful the world is, i won't be there when you get to read this, but i'll pray for you 'til eternity, love, valentine"

like what father said, the flowers symbolizes the petals wiped from the little girl's eyes, and the "love" was the selfless love St. Valentine gave and where the small love-mushy notes came from...

before i heard this story, i was like the Grinch of Valentine's! haha i never liked Valentine's, though i know i'm the senti kind..but never Valentine's...hahaha it was my first time to hear this story even the story i got from the net...and how i wish, everyone could know the real story behind this Valetine's Day..