St. Valentine

So, the story of St. Valentine goes that the Emperor Claudius (refering to Claudius Gothicus of the third century, not the more well know Claudius of the first) banned marriage in the Empire, to keep the young men from becoming attached to wives and be unwilling to join the military. Valentine married couples in secret anyway and, when he was caught and brought before Claudius, he tried to convert Claudius. This pissed off Claudius (who might have been willing to free Valentine up to that point), and Valetine got executed.

Now, assuming that the story is true (at least, the basics, Valetine existing and getting captured by Claudius, then trying to convert him), lets have Valteint succede in converting the Emperor? Claudius seems to have been a fairly average emperor and a competant military commander. Though the ban on marriage if quite probably fictional, he did need alot of soldiers, since the Goths were doing the invasion thing around now (Claudius basicly saved the Empire from them). Also, Claudius had the misfortune of dying of the plague 2 years into his reign, which would kinda prevent him from being a Constantine. So, what happens if he converts, instead of killing Valentine? It'll be in 269, halfway through his reign and he still has to go fight the Goths and die of the plague.
 
Well if he gets beaten comprehensively by the Goths I'd assume the remnants of his army might blame the defeat on Claudius' new religion, storm home in high dudgeon and proceed to massacre all the christians they can find with the blessing of the new Emperor.

If he succeeds, Christianity might gain popularity in the Upper echelons of the Empire as nobles convert to gain favour with the Emperor. However, the effects of this in the long term would probably depend on the chosen religion of whoever succeeds Claudius after he gets the plague.
 
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