Show Christian Saint Pagan Custom Present Valentine Problem St. St Valantine's Day has S long challenged historians to explain how hots howa a Christian saint become became I Identified with a pagan custom of exchanging tokens of love The answer may be simply that somebody got his ABCs ABC's mixed up Th The research department of the World Book Encyclopedia points out that at one time the letters v and g frequently were in popular speech Among the Normans the word gal galantin an tin referred to a lover of the fair sex probably a 11 wolf according to present-day present terminology But the word often was WL written and pronounced valentine valentine val en entine tine By Dy a natural confusion of names the Christian martyr was WL established as S the patron saint I pf sweethearts and his name given to the Roman festival at I which young oung men and women chose partners for the coming year historians argue however however how how- ever that there Is another explanation explanation ex ex- for giving the name St. St Valentines Valentine's Day to th the Roman Roman Ro Ro- I man holiday The early Christian fathers often had difficulty wiping out I pagan festivals Sometimes they simply appropriated the festivals I i and gave them a Christian meaning The Church fathers' fathers may have taken over the Roman holiday hollday which was WL celebrated on February February ary 15 and named it after three saints s named Valentine whose feast day fell on February 14 |