Saint George – One of the Most Beloved Saints
Saint George and the Dragon, c. 1506, Raphael
Saint George was born a Greek in Cappadocia, Asia Minor, today’s Turkey; after his parents died he travelled to Nicomedia, an ancient Greek city in Asia Minor, where he joined the Roman army under the Roman emperor Diocletian.
Byzantine icon of Saint George, Athens, Greece
Saint George was beheaded on 23 April 303 AD for refusing to make sacrifices to pagan gods.
He spent seven years being tortured but he still refused to renounce his Christian faith, legends suggest that St George died three times during his ordeal and was brought back to life each time.
Saint George dragged through the streets (detail), by Bernat Martorell, 15th century
Saint George Patron Saint of England
Saint George was canonized as a Saint by Pope Gelasius 1 in 494 AD.
He became one of the most beloved saints and after the crusades was also honoured as a military saint, often depicted together with Saint Demetrius, another soldier saint.
Saint George as a crusader knight, miniature from a ms. of Vies de Saints, c. 1340 (BNF Richelieu Manuscrits Français 185)
Saint George’s Day is traditionally celebrated on 23 April, if however the feast occurs before Easter, it is celebrated on Easter Monday instead.
In 1348 Edward III of England chose Saint George as the patron saint of his Order of the Garter and also took to using a red-on-white cross; the ‘Saint George’s Cross’, as his Royal Standard.
Saint George’s Cross
The term ‘Saint George’s cross’ was at first associated with any plain Greek cross touching the edges of the field (not necessarily red on white).
St George never actually set foot on English ground but was admired for his bravery in the face of terrible suffering and he was popular among European Knights and military men.
St George is also the patron Saint of Catalonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Germany, Greece, Moscow, Istanbul, and Genoa.
Saint George and the Dragon
Saint George
The story of St George slaying a dragon was first recorded in the 11th century.
Legend has it that the city of Silene, in Libya, was being tormented by a fierce dragon and the only way the people could appease it was by offering up fellow citizens, elected by the citizens themselves, as sacrifice.
The king’s daughter was one chosen to be sacrificed but luckily for her Saint George had arrived in town and saved her by slaying the dragon with his lance.
The grateful king offered Saint George treasures as a reward for saving his daughter’s life but he refused it and instead he gave these to the poor.
The people of the city were so amazed at what they had witnessed that they became Christians and were all baptized.
Another version has Saint George telling the king, that if everyone in the town was baptised, he would slay the dragon.
The king agreed to George’s terms and so George killed the dragon and saved the king’s daughter.
The Golden Legend describes George’s encounter with a dragon, this version remains the most familiar version in English owing to William Caxton’s 15th-century translation.
Saint George. Solomon Joseph Solomon
In mediaeval romances, the lance with which Saint George slew the dragon was called Ascalon, after the Levantine city of Ashkelon, today in Israel.
Ascalon was the name also used by Winston Churchill for his personal aircraft during World War II.
English recruitment poster from World War I, featuring Saint George and the Dragon.
In Sweden, the princess rescued by Saint George represents the kingdom of Sweden, while the dragon represents an invading army.
Several sculptures of Saint George battling the dragon can be found in Stockholm, the earliest inside Storkyrkan (The Great Church) in the Old Town.
Saint George and the Dragon, a late medieval wooden sculpture located in Storkyrkan in Stockholm, Sweden. It is attributed to Bernt Notke and was commissioned by the Swedish regent Sten Sture the Elder. It was inaugurated in 1489.
Iconography of the horseman with a spear overcoming evil was widespread throughout the Christian period.
Related links:
Saints and Celebrations of the Greek Orthodox Church
