The custom of Valentine’s Day was laid down by the third Pope of the Catholic Church, Pope Saint Gelasius I in 500 AD. Valentine’s Day was named after Saint Valentine who was a Christian sacrificial victim.

The word “valentine” originates the Latin root “valens” that entails “praiseworthy, sturdy or influential.” Because loads of the holy mans were referred Valentine during those days, it is hard to determine which Saint Valentine we are talking about.

There was a pagan festival observed in early Rome. To Christianize that fiesta, the church offered up it a name “Saint Valentine’s Day.”