We Love You....

....says the inscription on this lovely bracelet, a present from my family in Colorado Springs. I thought it would make a nice picture for today, February 14th, the day of romance we call St Valentine's Day. It is named for a Christian Martyr who lived in the third century, but has origins in the Roman holiday Lupercalla. Valentine was a Roman priest at the time when Emperor Claudius had an edict that prohibited marriage between young people, as he believed unmarried soldiers fought much better in battle. Valentine was imprisoned and tortured for performing marriage ceremonies against this edict. In 269 AD he was executed and his last words were in a letter to the daughter of prison officer Asterius. She was blind and he was said to have restored her sight miraculously. He signed the letter, FROM YOUR VALENTINE. and was later made a Saint.