Saint Valentine's Day (День Святого Валентина)

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Опубликовано:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaRgHQjC1WE - The History of St Valentine's Day

Saint Valentine was a bishop who lived in the third century in Rome who fight against Emperor Claudius II who ban marriage between two young lovers.

Saint Valentine held the law of the church and helped lovers who came to him, uniting them in a holy matrimony, but it was only a matter of time before the Emperor heard about this and had him arrested.

Valentine was imprisoned. While waiting for his sentence, his jailor Asterius approached him to use his saintly power, and heal his blind daughter. Valentine succeeded and her sight was restored -- they became close and fell in love.

After a while, the Emperor asked Saint Valentine to agree with the emperor about the ban on marriage, thus giving up his religion. Valentine refused.

Just before his execution, Valentine asked for a pen and paper and signed a farewell message to his lover, "from your Valentine"; a phrase that lived ever after.

And this is a children's story about St Valentine produced by www.growstorygrow.com, the online story-telling library resource for learning languages (English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Polish, Mandarin). 

2000 years ago, the most powerful army in the world belonged to the Romans. The Romans were strong and had conquered almost all of Europe, and parts of Asia and Africa. But they had been away from home for many years (service lasted 25 years!) and life in the army was harsh. Many of the soldiers longed for the comforts of home. They wanted to marry and set up families. The Emperor, whose name was Claudius the Second, was worried and so he made a law that no soldier was allowed to marry.By that time, many of the Romans were Christians. And one of their leaders was a Bishop called Valentine. He believed that if a man and woman fell in love with each other, they should get married -- and so he decided to let soldiers get married in his church, even though it was now against the law. The soldiers' weddings were meant to be secret, but as you know, all secrets are hard to keep, and soon the word got out. Valentine was arrested and brought before the emperor who demanded that he stop helping soldiers to marry, and instead that he pray to the gods of Rome. When he refused, the emperor sentenced him to death.While Valentine was in prison, the jailer's daughter, who was blind, used to bring him his food. She and Valentine used to spend long hours talking to each other, and they fell in love. One day, Valentine put his hand through the bars of his cell and touched the lids of her closed eyes. When she opened them again, she could see. It was a miracle.Valentine's execution was set for February the 14th. On his last night on earth, he wrote his final message to the girl. He signed his love letter, "From Your Valentine". This took place in the year 270, and ever since, lovers have sent each other messages on February the 14th with the same signature. 

And that is the story of St. Valentine.

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