Today is a huge hoax. There are several St. Valentines beatified through history, primarily of antiquity given the etymology of the name Valens, which is Roman and Latin at its root. Of the one whose feast is celebrated today, there is no record besides the fact that he exists. In fact, it's nothing more really than a hoax.
I did a little research, and the first reference of which I am aware that bespeaks a feast on St. Valentine's Day of 14 February is found in Chaucer. His literary allusion in Parliament of Foules is the oldest historical record for this feast, but it is fictitious in nature, given that Chaucer was novelist and not historian. Therefore, St. Valentine's Day is founded entirely upon a hoax.
Many hoaxes abound in history. Many hoaxes continue to persist today. It seems more that I look into Valentine's Day that it really is a holiday created by the greeting card companies, because some women do act as if all the spontaneous acts done throughout the year do not matter one whit unless you top them today.
Sometimes, while we're looking to fiction for our answers, I think Henry Higgins had it right.
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