THE REAL SAINT VALENTINE: Did you know the actual identity of the historical figure St. Valentine has been debated for centuries?

According to History.com, the St. Valentine who inspired the holiday may have been two different men. According to the Roman Catholic Church, St. Valentine is known to be a real person who died around A.D. 270. However, one account from the 1400s describes Valentine as a temple priest who was beheaded near Rome by the emperor Claudius II for helping Christian couples wed. A different account claims Valentine was the Bishop of Terni, also martyred by Claudius II on the outskirts of Rome. After centuries of questioning, enough confusion persisted surrounding the true identity of St. Valentine that the Catholic Church discontinued liturgical veneration of him in 1969, though his name remains on its list of officially recognized saints.

Maybe some of the confusion stems from the fact that in all, there are about a dozen St. Valentines, plus a pope. Because “Valentinus”— from the Latin word for worthy, strong or powerful — was a popular moniker between the second and eighth centuries A.D., several martyrs over the centuries have carried this name.

Although St. Valentine has long been synonymous with love, due to circumstances surrounding his martyrdom, it was actually English poet Geoffrey Chaucer who may have invented the contemporary celebrations on Valentine’s Day. No records exist of romantic celebrations on Valentine’s Day prior to a poem Chaucer wrote around 1375. In his work “Parliament of Foules,” he linked a tradition of courtly love with the celebration of St. Valentine’s feast day — an association that didn’t exist until after his poem received widespread attention. The poem refers to Feb. 14 as the day birds, and humans, come together to find a mate.