One way you can celebrate Valentine’s Day with kids is to tell them the story of St. Valentine. He became a martyr for his faith in 278 AD on February 14. Now that’s the day when we celebrate Valentines Day and love.
St. Valentine, a priest and a bishop, was killed in Rome under Claudius II. Then his burial date was February 14. The story of his life has great applications you can use with kids in Sunday school or children’s church.
The Story of St. Valentine for Kids
During the third century, Valentine was born in Rome. He became a priest and then a bishop. During that time, the emperor of Rome, Claudius II, wanted to end Christianity. So he outlawed Christianity and killed Christians.
Claudius waged war on many nations to make the kingdom of Rome larger. But he had a tough time recruiting soldiers. Why? He believed this was because men didn’t want to leave their wives. So he outlawed marriage!
Valentine continued to preach about God. Whenever a Christian couple wanted to be married, he performed the marriage ceremony. Because of this, soldiers arrested and jailed Valentine.
Emperor Claudius liked Valentine and invited him to the palace many times to talk. Valentine knew that Claudius needed to ask Jesus into his heart and be saved. So Valentine talked to Claudius about Jesus often.
This made the emperor furious. He ordered Valentine to not mention Jesus again. Valentine knew Claudius would have him killed if he didn’t stop talking about Jesus. But he also knew Claudius needed to hear about Jesus. So he made the decision to share the Gospel with the emperor.
