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
St Brigid's Roman Catholic Church The Roman Catholic Church was not formally recognised in Australia until 1820 with the arrival of Fathers Connolly and Therry, although unofficial churches and schools are believed to have operated in the colony prior to that time. St Brigid's is typical of the early development of educational facilities in New South Wales, which were either privately operated or church run. State run schools did not come into being until the National School system began in the 1840s. St Brigid's is believed to be the oldest church run school surviving in New South Wales (predating the Catholic school at Camperdown by