It was on this day in AD 269 that Saint Valentine was martyred in Rome. It is thought that he was killed for preaching the gospel to Emperor Claudius and secretly marrying Christian couples. One legend records that he healed the blindness of his jailer’s daughter and, knowing that he was about to be killed, left her a note simply signed, ‘Your Valentine’. For many centuries, Valentine has been venerated as a hero of love – and particularly of romantic love, though he himself was unmarried.