April 23rd

 

April 23^rd

Saint George slaying the dragon

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

April 23^rd 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 8^th 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 23^rd 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 26^th April 1564. 

At that time, babies were typically baptised three days after birth. Infant death was common in the 16^th century, and the prevalent belief was that baptism washed away the original sin in which they were born and granted them salvation.

  

April 23rd – St George’s Day

St George is the patron saint of England. He is also the patron saint of Aragon, Catalonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal and Russia as well as a host of cities and the island of Gozo and a number of professions, organisations and disease sufferers. Spread a bit thinly, isn't he? He is surrounded by myths and legends but little is known of him for certain.
April 23^rd is also celebrated as William Shakespeare's birthday (Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you . . . ) though there is no exact record of his birth. It is the date of his death, too, though there were some intervening years – 52 to be exact – in which he wrote 10 historical plays, 12 tragedies, 16 comedies, 154 sonnets and 5 poems. The authorship of some of these works has been questioned many times.
Most English-speaking people can probably quote Shakespeare, sometimes without realising they are doing so. When does a quotation become a cliché?
'All the world's a stage.'
'Neither a borrower nor a lender be.'
'Brevity is the soul of wit.'
'Cowards die many times before their death.'
'Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.'
These words slip so easily from our lips, so wise, so succinct. Try rephrasing them and realise afresh the gift for language with which William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, was blessed.