Feeling sorry for Saint Valentine, who is being celebrated today, I just googled his name. And I discovered that no less than fourteen saints go by this worthy name. It is not even known whether today’s date has to do with the martyrdom of one of them, or with the celebration of all saints by this name many years later. In short, the connection between one or more saints by this name and love, of all things, is of recent origin—say, Eighteenth or Nineteenth Century. Apparently, much has been written on this subject, but little of it is worth reading. The commercialization of the holiday cannot be older than several decades, and it came to Europe from America via Britain. It blossomed in America while I was there. That was in the Eighties. It caught on in Britain while I was there, once again. That was in the Nineties. The holiday craze reached Croatia early this millennium. And that is where I happened to have moved at the time. To my misery, I am riding on the very crest of Saint Valentine’s commercialization. As well as the commercialization of love itself. Poor Saint Valentine, indeed.