32. The Pope may have made Valentine’s Day a holy day in order to stop people from celebrating a pagan holiday
Whether or not Pope Gelasius believed Saint Valentine to be a holy martyr worthy of his own Feast Day remains the source of much debate. As we’ve seen, the Ancient Romans had their own festival of matchmaking and fertility rites, and this was celebrated in the middle of February. As such, it’s highly likely that Gelasius decided to honor the day of Valentine’s martyrdom so as to stop people from celebrating the ancient pagan festival of Lupercalia. After all, there were many occasions where the Church co-opted pagan festivals and made them Christian.
