Originally, the day now celebrated as a day of love in the United States was once known as Saint Valentine’s Feast Day in the Catholic Church.
That changed in the Second Vatican Council and the reasoning is explained in a document from the council titled Sacrosanctum Concilium.
“Lest the feasts of the saints should take precedence over the feasts which commemorate the very mysteries of salvation, many of them should be left to be celebrated by a particular Church or nation or family of religious; only those should be extended to the universal Church which commemorate saints who are truly of universal importance.” – Sacrosanctum Concilium
The Catholic News Agency reports that at least three different saints named Valentine were documented in early martyr histories on Feb. 14.
One account states that a Saint Valentine was martyred on Feb. 14 after being beaten and beheaded in prison.
In an interview with Catholic News Agency, Father Brendan Lupton, an associate professor of dogmatic theology at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Illinois said, “One [account] was that he had befriended the jailer’s daughter, where he was being imprisoned, and when he died, he left her a note inscribed with ‘From your Valentine,’” Lupton said.
Today, the Memorial of Saints Cyril and Methodius is celebrated on Feb. 14. They were brothers who worked tirelessly spreading the Gospel throughout Eastern Europe in the ninth century. Saint Cyril died on Feb. 14, 869.