Valentine's Day century. Popular modern sources claim links to unspecified Greco-Roman February holidays alleged to be devoted to fertility and love to St. Valentine's Day, but prior to Chaucer in the 14th century, there were no links between the saints named Valentinus and romantic love. In Ancient Rome, Lupercalia, observed February 13–15, was an archaic rite connected to fertility. Lupercalia was a festival local to the city of Rome. The more general Festival of Juno Februa, meaning "Juno the purifier" or "the chaste Juno", was celebrated on February 13–14. Pope Gelasius I (492–496) abolished Lupercalia. Some researchers have theorized that Gelasius I
Women in the Catholic Church artists alike and churches were named after her throughout Christendom. She became known as "Queen of Heaven". Mary Reichardt comments that the Blessed Virgin Mary is "paradoxically, both virgin and mother, both submissive and the preeminent "mulier fortis"". As the mother of Jesus, Mary has a central role in the life of the Roman Catholic Church. Within the Catholic Church, the Virgin Mary is seen as the Mother of God and the Mother of the Church. By the early Middle Ages, Marian devotion had become an integral part of Church life. The Roman Catholic veneration of her as the "Blessed