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| KatyA | Tuesday, 22. April 2008, 17:31 |
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St. George was martyred at Lydda in Palestina, probably before the time of Constantine. This is all that can be ascertained about this famous saint. There are many and various, but unfortunately not very dependable, Lives of St. George, telling of the wonders of his martyrdom: how he encouraged his fellow Christians by public avowal of his faith, how he was arrested and how he was executed after many sufferings, not indeed only on his part, for his persecutors received their punishment. But the story of the slaying of the dragon, the story which is vividly associated with him and which has acquired such symbolic power, not to speak of its literary uses from Spenser's Faerie Queene to children's tales of the Seven Champions of Christendom, does not make its first definite appearance until the twelfth century. It is then that we find a story of his martyrdom to which has been added an account of St. George as knight and dragon slayer. George, it says, a Christian knight, came to the city of Sylene in Lybia, which was being persecuted by a terrible dragon; and the people had been reduced to supplying it with prey from among their own company. On this occasion the king's daughter herself had to go forth, but George attacked and subdued the monster, and the princess led it back to the city with her own girdle round its neck. Here St. George slew the dragon on the condition that the people should be baptized. With some words of admonishment on being good Christians he then goes on to his martyrdom; the complete transformation of the saint into a knight of chivalry in which he marries the princess is a still later development. In spite of the lack of detailed information, George was, and is, a great figure in the east. It is remarkable also that his fame spread so far and so comparatively fast. He was known in England by the eighth century, his Life was translated into Anglo Saxon, and English churches were dedicated to him. the middle ages saw a steady development of his identification with England. In an age of elaborate chivalric ideals and ritual, when saints were given the attributes of knighthood and William Langland in Piers Plowman could speak of our Lord riding to Jerusalem to joust for our salvation, George became patron of knighthood and arms, and finally patron of England. The famous flag appears in 1284, and in the fourteenth century the red cross on the white ground was worn by both soldiers and sailors. This of course survives in the white ensign of the British Navy, in the flag flown on high days by English parish churches, and it is incorporated in the Union Jack. The Order of the Garter, the premier order of knighthood in England, was established by Edward III about 1347 and placed under the principal patronage of St. George--as it still is; St. George's Chapel, Windsor, was built as the chapel of the order. The saint's feast became of increasing importance during the middle ages, and remained a holiday of obligation for English Catholics until 1778. From The Saints: A Concise Biographical Dictionary, ed. John Coulson Another biography, from Butler's Lives of the Saints can be seen HERE A shorter one which includes the Golden Legend and a list of his patronages, is available HERE |
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| St.George Patron Of England · Saints & Feast Days | |
8:49 PM Nov 25