You know what’s brutal?
Being newly single and only getting one Valentine’s Day message via Facebook from some dude in the UK saying ‘send nudes’.
You know what’s really brutal? Getting beaten, stoned and beheaded, just for being a romantic.
I know what you’re thinking: That’s what MY breakup felt like too! But this grisly fate was actually suffered by the original Saint Valentine.
Saint Valentine of Terni lived in the 3th century BC, and was officially declared a saint in the latter part of the 5th century.
The feast of St. Valentine - celebrated on the 14th of February - was first celebrated in 496 by Pope Gelasius I.
Nothing was then known about St. Valentine, with Pope Gelasius noting that he was among other saints "... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God."
If only he had known...
Listen: The first episode of Mamamia's new love advice podcast Love Life dropped today. (Post continues after audio.)
See, Saint Valentine was a bit of a romantic, and according to Roman mythology he was a priest who used to marry Christian couples - which, of course, was outlawed at a time where Roman mythology and ideology was the primary religion.