Have you ever wondered why we associate St Valentine’s Day with romance? Who, for that matter, was St Valentine? Well, here are some odd facts about this mysterious personality.

1. There’s not one St Valentine but several

First of all, let’s clarify that several Valentines appear in the Roman Catholic roster of saints. In all, there are a dozen St Valentines, plus a pope! This is because Valentinus, meaning strong or powerful in Latin, was a popular moniker between 2-8 AD and several martyrs were given this name. Pope Valentine, for instance, was pope of Rome for about 40 days in 827, but little is known about his life.

2. There’s also a St Valentina

Feminists may enjoy the fact that one of these Valentines was female: St Valentina to be precise. St Valentina and Thea were virgin martyrs executed in Palestine in 308, during the reign of Emperor Galerius. Their feast day is on 25 July.

3. The ‘real’ St Valentine is ...

The better known St Valentine was probably St Valentine of Rome, who was martyred in 269 AD. In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius marked February 14 as his feast day. But there is so much confusion about the real identity and life of this Valentine, that the Catholic Church discontinued liturgical veneration of him in 1969; he remains, however, an officially recognised saint.

4. Aww…this is why he’s associated with romance

Although there are variations in the legends and confusions about his identity, it is widely accepted that the St Valentine celebrated on 14 February was the Bishop of Terni (or was he just a priest of Rome?), who was marrying Christian couples and assisting Christians, who at the time were being persecuted under Emperor Claudius in Rome. Valentinus was arrested and imprisoned, yet somehow gained Claudius’s liking.

5. Like most St Valentines, he too came to a sorry end

When Valentinus tried to convert the Emperor, they no longer remained friends. Claudius gave him the choice of renouncing his faith or death. Refusing to renounce his faith, the priest was clubbed and stoned. When that didn’t kill him, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate in 269. Ouch.

6. "From your Valentine."

Apparently, this came to be written for the first time on the eve of his execution. Erm, nice. Legend has it that to prove the validity of Jesus, Valentinus had restored the sight of his jailer's blind daughter. There are variations of the story that claim he fell in love with her when she visited him. In any case, it was on a farewell note to her that he signed these famous words.

7. The patron saint of love, bees and the plague

Represented in pictures with birds and roses, St Valentine is commonly known as the patron saint of young people, love, lovers, affianced couples, engaged couples, and happy marriages. So far so good. For some strange reason, he is also the patron saint of bee keeping, fainting, epilepsy and the plague!

8. Evidence among the legends

Archaeologists have unearthed a Roman catacomb and an ancient church dedicated to St Valentine, as well as skeletal remains and other relics. But which Valentine would that be now? In any case, bits of St Valentine’s skeleton are on display in Rome, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Scotland, England, France and other reliquaries around the world, including Malta!

9. The connection between St Valentine and Balzan, Malta

In January 1820, some bones of St Valentine were given to the parish of Canon Dun Lawrenz Grech Delicata from Balzan. In the church, there is what is called a corp sant consisting of a reclining statue dressed in silk, velvet and lace, with the bones accordingly placed in glass. Although the saint’s feast is no longer celebrated, the parish of Balzan commemorates St Valentine’s with a Mass on 14 February.

Although none can ever know the true story of St Valentine among the legends, his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and romantic figure grew in the Middle Ages and persists to this day.