Browsing: February 14

A Brief History On February 14, we celebrate St. Valentine’s Day, a day on which we show our appreciation for our special loved one or significant other.  Uncharacteristically, however, this date has also been a black day of death and murder! Digging Deeper Now considered a “Hallmark Holiday,” it was named after the unfortunate St. Valentine, a Christian, said to be a bishop, who was executed by the Romans in 269 A.D. for preaching the Gospel.  He was not just executed but beaten with clubs and beheaded.  Somehow, this guy whom we know almost nothing about came to symbolize romantic love (especially ironic…

Read More

A Brief History On February 14, 1349, the city of Strasbourg, France was the scene of a St. Valentine’s Day massacre 150 times worse than the more famous Chicago incident! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find Strasbourg at the time an independent Imperial City located in the region now known as Alsace on the French-German border. Lest you think anti-Semitism was something invented by the Nazi’s in World War II, pogroms against people practicing the Jewish faith go back a long time, even before the earliest settlement of Strasbourg in 12 B.C. In 1349, only a year after an epidemic of…

Read More

A Brief History As you may have read earlier on our site today, on February 14, 269, Saint Valentine reportedly experienced martyrdom.   He is but one of numerous saints whose lives and/or deaths can be considered unusual or “cracked”.  Traditionally, Christians commemorate the saints with what is generally known as a Calendar of Saints, marking the various feast days of saints.  We shall do similarly by providing our own Calendar of Saints featured on History and Headlines.  Whether you are a Christian or not, the stories of these individuals are nevertheless quite fascinating!  And yes, we are posting two Saint…

Read More

A Brief History On February 14th, many of our readers celebrate Saint Valentine’s Day, a day associated with the martyrdom of the famous saint who was allegedly sentenced by a Roman emperor to be beaten with clubs and beheaded for refusing to renounce Christianity.  The execution possibly occurred on February 14, 269.  Valentine’s brutal demise is but one of numerous unusual deaths that are covered on History and Headlines.  This article will be unlike most every other article on our site, because it will be periodically updated to provide a comprehensive, albeit not exhaustive, list of history’s more unusual deaths.…

Read More