17587 st valentines day

What do you know about this festivity. Read the following text:
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day is a holiday
observed on February 14 honoring one or more early Christian martyrs
named Saint Valentine. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their
love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and
sending greeting cards.
The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey
Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love
flourished. It was first established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD, and was
later deleted from the General Roman Calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope
Paul VI.
Modern Valentine’s Day symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and
the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten
valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards.
There is a legend that says than St Valentine was a priest who served during
the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single
men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he prohibited
marriage for young men. Valentine realized that it wasn’t fair. So he defied
Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret.
When his actions were discovered, Claudius ordered to kill him. When he was
in prison he sent valentine’ s card to a young girl to whom he had fallen in
love with.
Nowadays, St Valentine’s Day is celebrated in many parts of the world.
People in love buy presents, send messages and cards to their lovers.