Happy Saint George’s Day
The twenty-third of April is traditionally the feast day of Saint George. Saint George was a Christian from Anatolia, then a Greek-speaking part of the Roman Empire but now part of Turkey. He is the patron saint of many countries, but veneration of him in England goes back at least to the ninth century, the attestation being a missal from Durham Cathedral.
St George also has a strong tradition in England’s literary heritage; In Henry V, Shakespeare rallies the English troops with the famous soliloquy that ends
“Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry ‘God for Harry, England, and Saint George!’ “
while Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, written in praise of Elizabeth I, has as a protagonist the Redcrosse knight – Saint George.
There are also many figurative depictions of Saint George, usually slaying the infamous dragon. I think my favourite is the one that appears on the back of the half sovereign, shown here to the left.
St George is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers; despite that, he was demoted by the Vatican to the third tier of saints – removed from the Calendar but allowed for local veneration – in 1968 and only returned in 2000.
Anyway, stay away from those dragons and happy St George’s Day!
xD.
April 25th, 2008 at 8:52 am
Maybe he was demoted because he was used to intercede for domestic animals (presumably not including dragons)
April 25th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Good knowledge, WW!
However, looking at the other intercessions – against headache, fever & sudden death, illness of the throat, sudden death (again), bubonic plague, temptation on the death-bed, headache (again), intestinal ailments, family discord, plague (again) & a good confession, during childbirth, physicians and finally epilepsy, the health of domestic animals is at least as important given the time the fourteen helpers were set down (the fourteenth century at the time of the Black Death) and, I’d contend, is still important in what the Catholic church might consider ‘growth areas’.
xD.