Message of Love

           Why I love.. Valentine's......Not just for Chocolate...
         but because I love the cards.. especially the old ones!

It is said that the first Valentine card was written by a roman priest who was imprisoned in Rome by the emperor Claudius. Some sources suggest that he was blind and a young girl took care of him while in jail, waiting to be executed. He fell in love with her and when the time came for him to be beheaded he wrote a note lo this girl, signing "From your Valentine". He's name was Valentine and the year was 270 Anno Domini. His crime: marrying couples in love.
The next oldest Valentine card is considered to belong to the Duke of Orleans, Charles, and was sent to his wife, Bonne D'Armagnac("ma tres doulce Valentinee..."  or "my sweet Valentine" ), in 1415. He, too, was imprisoned in London but released in 1440. Charles, Duke of Orleans is known as a great poet who wrote more then 500 ballades and rondeaux, most of them while in captivity.
For the next 400 years, europeans celebrated love on February 14th or around this date. There were many local traditions associated with this holiday, all of them expressing love and affection for somebody special. The mass production of Valentine Cards around the beginning of the 20th century made the Valentine Day even more popular and some countries adopted the celebration as well. As far as 21st century, the Internet made possible to send e-Valentine cards (15 million in 2010) which  together with the printed cards and exchange cards, would make up to over one billion valentines sent every 14th of February.