Today we are celebrating Saint Valentine's day, the day of lovers so I thought it was only natural that we pay tribute to the Italian  Saint of love, Saint Valentine.The story of the saint and the origins of the feast day are clouded by myth, the earliest version of the story dates back to ancient Rome and the pagan festival of Lupercalia. Shepherds outside the city walls waged a constant battle against hungry wolves and prayed to the god Lupercus to watch over their flocks. Every year in February, the Romans would repay the god?s vigilance with a festival, which doubled as a celebration of fertility and the onset of Spring. Newlywed women would be whipped by februa (strips of goat skin and the derivation of our word February) to purify their bodies in preparation for childbirth.One of the highlights of Lupercalia came on February 14 with an erotic tribute to Juno Februata, the goddess of feverish love. The names of maidens were drawn at random by young men and the resultant couple would become partners at the feast and even for life.?The bishop was executed on February 1. On the eve of his death, he sent a passionate letter to his beloved, signed simply ?your Valentine?.The festival was extremely popular and lasted for centuries. After Constantine had christianised Rome, the Church tried to clamp down on pagan activities and Lupercalia, with its lurid temptations, was an obvious target. Pope Galasius, in the 5th Century, needed to find a suitable replacement fo...