Valentine's Day goes as far back as 270 AD and came from celebrations from ancient Christian and Romans. One legend tells that the holiday began from the Roman festival of Lupercalia, a fertility celebration, but when Christianity took over pagan holidays were renamed for early Christians martyrs. In 496 AD the pope turned Lupercalia into a Christian feast day. He proclaimed that it was to honor of Saint Valentine a Roman martyr from the 3rd century. According to the Catholic encyclopedia there were three early Christian saints by the name of Valentine. One was a priest in Rome and another was a bishop in Terri. Nothing is known about the third except he died in Africa. The story of Saint Valentine is about a bishop who held secret marriage ceremonies of soldiers in Claudius II who banned marriage for young men. He felt that marriage made men weak and Valentine was arrested for performing the marriages and excecuted. Thus, February 14 became a day for lovers and was annually observed by young Romans. In medieval France and England it was believed that birds mated on February 14 and the image of birds became the symbol of lovers in poems dedicated to the day. By the 18th century Valentines Day had become common in England and handmade Valentine cards, ribbons, and hearts were created. This spread to the American colonies, but it wasn't until 1840 that greeting cards were sold in the United States.