Feast Day of
Saint George

Saint George: 1700th Anniversary of Martyrdom Scott 1238 (2003) April 23 is the feast day of Saint George, a feast day shared with Saint Adalbert of Prague. George was from a Greek Christian family and served as a Roman soldier in the East as one of Emperor Diocletian’s bodyguards. In 302 Diocletian ordered all officers to sacrifice to the Roman gods. George refused, and was martyred on 23 April, 303 by decapitation at Nicomedia in Bithynia, across the Sea of Marmara, southwest of Constantinople. He is the patron of soldiers and was cited by St. Bede, the Venerable (d.735), the father of English history, and various Crusader legends. In Shakespeare’s play Henry V, he is invoked by Harry Bolingbroke (Henry V) at the battle of Agincourt (1415): “Once more into the breach dear friends…Cry God for Harry, England, and St. George.” St. George is also linked to a story about saving a princess from a dragon, a scene featured on the Vatican City stamp shown above. Issued in 2003, the painting is by Paris Bordone, a 16th-century Mannerist artist, and is now located in the Vatican galleries. Legend has it that villagers of a town were plagued by a dragon whose breath was fatal. They used a sheep to lure the local dragon away from their spring. If no sheep were available, the villagers drew lots to select a young girl to face the dragon. St. George, a soldier protected by the Cross, pierced the dragon with his lance and then immobilized the dragon with the princess’s girdle (a symbol of virginity). George then led the dragon into the village, where it was slain in front of the 15,000 villagers who all thereupon converted to Christianity. Saint George and the Dragon (16th Century Woodcut, Artist Unknown) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York From Wikimedia Commons Used under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication The location where the dragon was slain is said to be Ashkelon in modern-day Israel. During World War II, Winston Churchill used the name “Ascalon” as the name for his ‘flying conference aircraft’ (an Arvo York, a company that also manufactured the Lancaster heavy bomber aircraft). Churchill, therefore, associated his mission with that of the patron saint of England in the struggle against Nazi Germany. In addition to being the patron saint of soldiers, Saint George is the patron of many groups and countries, including England and Portugal. He is also the patron saint of scouting. REFERENCES: Thomas Crimando, Vatican Notes, Volume 52, Number 2, page 9, 2003, “17th Centenary of the Death of St George” UFN, May 6, 2003, 17th Centenary of the Death of St. George