Anyone who has just been dumped will probably not enjoy Valentine’s Day. It is for the lovers – the ones who are so grotesquely intertwined in an intimate relationship that the rest of the world feels like the awkward third wheel.

But ask a lover the history of the holiday. The usually ignored torture, blood, martyrdom and misery in the historical theories surrounding Valentine’s Day suggest the holiday was never intended for lovers.

The first historical account, documented by The History Channel, claims St. Valentine was a priest in Rome under Emperor Claudius II. Claudius forbade young men to wed because he believed they served better lives as soldiers, so St. Valentine began to secretly marry young couples. When Claudius discovered the acts of St. Valentine, he had him publically tortured to death.

The second account claimed a different St. Valentine helped Christians escape brutal persecution from the Romans. He was caught, thrown in prison and fell hopelessly in love with the daughter of his Roman guard. The torture of seeing his lover walk freely around outside of his cell and knowing he could never touch her caused his death – along with poor nutrition and living quarters. Before his death in mid-February 270 A.D., he wrote her a desperate love note and signed it: “From your Valentine.” The expression and his love has lived on to today.

The third account involves the pagan Lupercalia festival of fertility that happened in mid-February in Rome. Young men sacrificed a goat and a dog to symbolize fertility and purification. They skinned and bled the sacrifices and dipped strips of goat hide in the blood. They then ran through the village streets, slapping women with the bloody goat hide as they passed.If a woman was slapped with the bloody hide, she would be fertile for the husband chosen for her later that night in a marriage lottery. Eligible men randomly selected an eligible woman’s name from a vase and would be matched with that woman for one year, until the next lottery rearranged the matches. The event was named “St. Valentine’s Day” by Pope Gelaius in 498 A.D., but many of the practices were deemed un-Christian and eliminated. The name stuck as a day for marriage, partnership and fertility.

So, if you despise Valentine’s Day because you’re feeling pain, think of St. Valentine, publicly tortured for supporting young love.

If you despise Valentine’s Day because you are alone, remember St. Valentine sitting alone in prison and waiting to die of a broken heart.

Or, if you despise Valentine’s Day because you believe the holiday is a waste and you simply do not agree with it, think of the Lupercalia festival and smile because you don’t have to sacrifice any animals for the sake of a stranger’s fertility.

For anyone who does not have the cookie-cutter, Hallmark image of Valentine’s Day love, celebrate because Valentine’s Day is for you.