As realistic a portrayal of St. Valentine as you’re likely to get
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Look. St. Valentine’s Day is a happy, cheerful reminder to buy your loved one some flowers and express your devotion. It comes in the middle of February, when we can all use a little color and a romantic pick-me-up. Plus, it’s a nearly $20 billion boost to the economy in the form of greeting cards, floral arrangements, dinner reservations and the rest of it.
Does it really need to go deeper than that?
If you do go looking for the real story, you’ll find lots of fantastically detailed accounts like this one from a director of the Christian Broadcasting Network’s 700 Club. Now the fact is, all this business of “St. Valentine” being martyred for marrying Christians was considered fiction as early as the 5th century AD. There were lots of early saints named Valentine and there’s not a shred of contemporary testimony to support any of this.
But why let a few facts get in the way of a great story?
Roman Emperor Claudius II Gothicus
The real problem is that tradition has laid the martyrdom of St. Valentine at the feet of a guy who didn’t really deserve this calumny: Roman Emperor Claudius II.
Let’s set the record straight here: Claudius II was a soldier. And a busy one, beating back invading hordes of Goths in the 3rd century with a ferocity that earned him the title “Gothicus.” He wouldn’t have had much time to persecute Christians even had he been inclined to do so, and there’s not a shred of evidence that he had anything against them.
So assuming your Valentines Day plans come off without a hitch and you have yourself a lovely, romantic evening – you can thank the imaginations of the medieval monks and Romantic-era fabulists who cooked all this up. You can thank the entrepreneurs who sold you the cards, the flowers and dinner.
But poor Claudius II? Leave him out of it.
The 60-Second Know-It-All Project is an Emmy-winning series of informational videos produced by Plain Dealer graphic and video artist William Neff, with sound design and creative collaboration from Plain Dealer photo and sound editor Jon Fobes. You can follow the entire series on our YouTube playlist or by giving our Facebook page a like!
The 60 Second Know it All Project
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