St. Valentine's Day no longer appears in the official calendar of feasts and saints' celebrations observed by the Catholic Church. That is because the historical records are a bit confused about who St. Valentine may have been. The secular meaning of Valentine's Day, as a special day for lovers, goes back to the ancient Roman observance of the Lupercalia, a day for celebrating the beauty of human courtship and love. That dimension is what endures in today's Valentine's Day observation. Perhaps no one has expressed it as clearly as St. Paul.
Love is patient, love is kind.
In an era when some popular notions of love border on narcissism, it is good to recall that genuine human love means a deeper relationship - giving one's self in service to the beloved. Sometimes what claims to be love is really manipulation of others. In contrast, genuine love respects the freedom and personal uniqueness of the beloved.