The history of Valentine’s Day-and its saint-has been shrouded in a cloak of mystery.

Even the origin is believed to have come from a mixed background of Christian and Roman tradition.

“In the Catholic Church, Valentine was believed to have been a Roman priest and doctor, who was supposed to have been martyred on a highway, making him a Patron Saint of Travel,” Carol Stevens, English professor, said.

This particular Valentine was beheaded. History also contends that another man that lived 60 miles away, also suffered a martyrs death.

A Roman legend contends that Valentine challenged the word of the Emperor Claudius II. Valentine may have performed marriages for young lovers against Claudius’ decree, the History Channel’s Web site said. He thought that soldiers should not be married because it would make them weak. Claudius then discovered these secret marriages and ordered Valentine put to death.

The patron saint Valentine may have in fact sent the first ‘valentine’ greeting himself, the Web site said.

According to legend, while in prison, Valentine fell in love with a young girl who may have been his jailer’s daughter. Before his own death, he allegedly wrote her a letter which he signed ‘From your Valentine,’ an expression still in use today.

Although the truth behind St. Valentine is still as mysterious as the fillings in a box of chocolates, one belief remains true; the individual was sympathetic, heroic and above all romantic, the Web site said.

Cupid, one symbol of Valentine’s Day is said to have been the son of Venus, the Roman god of Love.

Americans probably began exchanging hand-man Valentines in the early 1700s, according to the History Channel’s Web site. Esther A. Howland began to sell the first valentines in America in the 1840s.

An estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, second only to Christmas, the Web site said. Approximately 85 percent of all valentines are purchased by women.

Throughout the years, Valentine’s Day has not always been so sweet.

In 1929, “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn and Al Capone orchestrated a red- puddled revenge in the infamous St. Valentines Day Massacre. It all happened at 2122 Clark St. in Chicago, the On-This-Day Web site said.

Several mob hitmen dressed as policemen came to a garage to ‘bust’ a bootlegging deal. The pseudo cops lined seven rival gang members against a wall, then shot them dead from behind.

Bugs Moran – the target of the hit, was not in the garage at the time.

Jimmy Hoffa, another man with possible mob connections, was born on this day in 1913, the Web site said.

Also, famous reporter Carl Bernstein was born in 1944 on Valentine’s Day. Oregon and Arizona also entered the Union in the sweet day in 1859, and 1912 respectively.