According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year. After Christmas, this makes Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. 2.6 billion cards are estimated to be sent for Christmas. The most popular legend for St. Valentine comes from around around 270 AD when Claudius ll prohibited marriage from the Roman Empire because he believed unmarried men made better soldiers. St. Valentine continued to marry young lovers in secret. He was eventually caught, imprisoned, tortured, and put to death. The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were coincidentally martyred on February 14.