April 23rd
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
April 23rd is St George’s Day, England’s national day, though this Christian Roman soldier never visited England. He lived and died in or near present-day Israel. He was a Greek-speaking officer in the Roman army, and was executed for his beliefs around 303 AD. By the 8th century AD, he had become known and revered in England for his courage and piety.
During the Crusades (1095-1291) soldiers invoked his name on the battlefield as they fought to defend the Holy Land, or regain it from Muslim rule. He was adopted as a martyr by Edward III, who made him the patron of the Order of the Garter in 1348. The dragon he was alleged to have slain made its appearance in St George’s story several hundred years after his death.
The dragon represented paganism, evil, and chaos. The beautiful damsel/princess the dragon had captured and who St George saved, was the personification of purity and innocence.
St George is honoured in many other countries, including Ethiopia, Hungary, Greece, and Catalonia.
April 23rd is also remembered as William Shakespeare’s birth (1564) and death date (1616). The precise date of his birth was not recorded, but he was baptised on 26th April 1564.
At that time, babies were typically baptised three days after birth. Infant death was common in the 16th century, and the prevalent belief was that baptism washed away the original sin in which they were born and granted them salvation.
St George's history was interesting to learn.
ReplyDeleteSome people need baptising daily to wash away recurrent sins.
GREAT!!! We shall all go out to seek a dragon and get baptized and whatever else there is to do on St. George's day.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for this post. I've heard of St. George and the dragon, but didn't know the full story. This is so very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI knew about St. George and the dragon, but I didn't know. Thanks for sharing all this information. I'll join George and slay some evil and chaos after work tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Thank you for St. George’s life story. I had never heard the whole of it before.
ReplyDeleteI am completely ignorant about St. George and St. George's Day. How do you celebrate/observe it?
ReplyDeleteBeing a Dragon Lady myself (born in the year of the dragon), I feel sorry for the much maligned dragons of history past. I never knew much about St George. elsieathome@y7mail.com for the words
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to learn a bit about the historical background of the people who became saints, and it never fails to fascinate me how much they achieved in their often short lives and how far they traveled. Take St. Gallus, for instance; he is the Patron Saint of O.K.'s village (which is why I know about him), and apparently he did indeed live and work in the area, but originally he was most likely from Ireland. An Irish monk ending up in south Germany - I wonder what language(s) (other than the required Latin, of course) he spoke.
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