What's the history of Valentine's day?

Whats The History Behind Valentines Day?

• i mean, who came up with a random holiday to give candy to a girl &call her your valentine? humbug.f;

• Answer:

  The World Book Encyclopedia gives further information, offering various theories on the origin of Valentine Day practices. “According to one story, the Roman Emperor Claudius II in the A.D. 200’s forbade young men to marry. The emperor thought single men made better soldiers. A priest named Valentine disobeyed the emperor’s order and secretly married young couples. . . . Many stories say that Valentine was executed on February 14 about A.D. 269. In A.D. 496, Saint Pope Gelasius I named February 14 as St. Valentine’s Day.” Regardless of the true origin of the practice, it is evident that it is rooted in ancient pagan beliefs and in Christendom’s listing of so-called “saints.” Valentine Day is also another excuse for commercial exploitation of an often uninformed public.—2 Corinthians 6:14-18. Should We Celebrate Holidays? http://www.watchtower.org/e/bh/appendix_14.htm