April 23 is the feast of St. George the Martyr. As Dom Gueranger puts it in his usual stirring style: “Clad in his bright coat of mail, mounted on his war steed, and spearing the dragon with his lance, George, the intrepid champion of our Risen Jesus, comes to gladden us today with his feast. From the East, where he is known as the great Martyr, devotion to St. George soon spread in the Western Church, and our Christian armies have always loved and honored him as one of their dearest patrons. His martyrdom took place in Paschal Time; and thus he stands before us as the guardian of the glorious sepulcher, just as Stephen, the Protomartyr, watches near the crib of the Infant God.” His cultus is widespread: there is the original church of his enshrinement in to-day’s Lod, Israel. But one may also venerate his relics at the churches of St. Giorgio in Velabro, Rome; St. George, Gozo, Malta; St George’s Monastery, Aithipsos, Euboea; Koimesis Monastery in Kleiston, Phili, Attica; St Marks Cathedral, Venice; Xonophontos Monastery, Mount Athos; St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Hartford, CT; and very many more.
Of this martyr, we are routinely told that nothing can be known for sure, save that he was a soldier in Diocletian’s guard who refused to give up the Catholic Faith, and was accordingly killed. In later years, the story of his rescuing a princess by killing a dragon was told — and dismissed as being purely a symbol of good triumphing over evil. And yet, how compelling an image it is! If we look up “St. George and the Dragon,” on Google, we are given “About 43,000,000 results”! The great Saint and his reptilian foe are, in that much misused word, archetypal. During World War I, beautiful propaganda posters of the image were done by British, German, and Austro-Hungarian artists, doubtless implying that St. George was their own Saintly Knight, and the Dragon was the symbol of their enemy. But, as David Scott Fox demonstrated with his delightful book, Saint George: The Sant with Three Faces, we do know a bit more than people realise.
We are of course used to thinking of St. George as the patron of England — and so he is: the patron of Merrie England, of the traditional counties and calendar customs, of Morris dancers and town waits and criers, of the Monarchy, Chivalry, and Heraldry, of Robin Hood, of King Arthur, of Richard III, and Charles I. It is for this reason the most English of English patriotic Societies calls itself the Royal Society of St. George (as do its brethren in New York and Philadelphia), and John Ruskin named his group the Guild of St. George. The spiritual heart of that kind of Englishness is surely St. George’s Chapel, Windsor.
But he is patron of many other places in Christendom as well, which is why St. George’s Day is celebrated in so many places outside England, where he is likewise called patron — and why devotion to him is so great. In Portugal, he has been beloved since the English Crusaders who helped King Afonso Henriques to conquer Lisbon in 1147 brought devotion to him to Portugal. During the reign of Afonso IV that the use of “São Jorge!” replaced the previous “Sant’Iago!” St. Nuno Álvares Pereira, Constable of the Kingdom, considered St. George to be responsible for the Portuguese victory in the Battle of Aljubarrota. King John I of Portugal was also a devotee of the Saint, and it was during his reign that St. George replaced St. James the Great as patron saint of Portugal, underlining the increasing separation of Portugal from the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. In 1387, King John I ordered that St. George’s image on horseback be carried in the Corpus Christi procession — it has been ever since, in Portugal. The Portuguese brought devotion to St. George to Rio de Janeiro.
In Aragon, the defeat of the Moors was made possible in 1096 by the timely appearance of St. George in battle; something similar is claimed to have happened for a detachment of besieged Christians in Lebanon in 1983. The Bavarians and Austrians are so fond of him that villages whose patron he is often have a mounted procession in his honour. In Ethiopia, it said that an icon of St. George entered the country in the 13th century during the reign of Emperor Amde Zion. A monk named Aba Leule Kal, who lived in the Ethiopian monastery in Jerusalem for many years, brought the Icon from the monastery of Debre Ydras in Syria along with a description and presented it to the Emperor; he built a church for it and the description was translated from Arabic to Ge’ez. Amde Zion took the icon of St. George and fought with his enemies, winning ten great campaigns. After this he declared that “because St. George is my intercessor and helper, the barbarians cannot defeat me.” Subsequent Emperors placed similar faith in the icon, often winning — most recently with Menelik II against the Italians at the Battle of Adowa. This could not have gone done too well in Genoa or Venice, St. George being primary patron of the first city, and secondary of the second. Then again, since both of those cities guarded their independence jealously when separate City States, they may not have minded a defeat of the government that had subjected them both.
At any rate, as a patron of the Crusaders, he became a patron of knights in general, and the knightly orders in particular. This is especially true of those orders, old and new, wherein he is an official patron — the Teutonic Order, the Constantinian Order of St. George (both Calabria and Castro branches) the Order of the Garter, the Georgsorden, the Order of St. Michael and St. George, and so many others. The emergence of gunpowder dooming the knights, the branches of Cavalry and then Armour took St. George for their patron — as seen by the Order of St. George in to-day’s U.S. Army. For that matter, thanks to their founder, Lord Baden-Powell, who also revered him, St. George is also the patron of the world-wide Boy Scouting Movement.
All of which bring us back to St. George and the Dragon. As with St. Michael and his dragon, there can be no doubt that the image of good triumphing over evil is one which we desperately need to-day. There is some claim by the Eastern Orthodox that the dragon was indeed a real beast of some kind that the Saint vanquished. Whether or not that is so — and whether it happened in Beirut or Berkshire — St. George and his unending victory over the dragon are a source of inspiration we all need to-day. Whether or not we are English, Portuguese, Russian, or any of the other nationalities who claim him as patron; whether or not we are or have been knights (though all Catholic men should attempt to be chivalrous), cavalrymen, or boy scouts; we all need his help, protection, and intercession.
The truth is that to-day, in Church, State, and culture, the dragon lurks everywhere, devouring as many as he can stuff into his jaw at one go. Few of us can see him clearly; fewer still have a shining sword or lance with which to fight him. But we have prayer, the Sacraments, and Sacramentals. We may fight the dragon with these weapons on the spiritual level. Let us ask St. George’s guidance in doing so! We might be parents, teachers, clerics, religious, managers, armed forces officers, lawyers, doctors, or any sort of person with authority charged to protect and/or guide those younger or weaker than ourselves. If so, let us pray to St. George for help in carrying out duties — saying and doing all the very best we can for the well-being of those committed to our care. We might be soldiers, policemen, security guards, or any other sort of individual charged with the protection of country and/or community. Let us ask St. George’s help in preventing violence and mayhem if we can do so — and striking true, effectively, and quickly if not. If we are none of these things, our own soul must still be protected, as our great treasure. St. George shall certainly help it its defence, if we invoke him. Let us also remember all those other military and knightly saints, at whose head St. George valiantly stands. They all have our interest at heart, as he does; they are all ready to help.
So, by all means, enjoy St. George’s Day, 2024! If you an Anglophile, you can celebrate that aspect of the day as well; if not, look into the many other nationalities who claim him. But above all, use this as a day to get know this defender of Christendom, this vanquisher of dragons better. For all of us, even if not visibly, sooner or later must don our helmet, grasp our sword and red-crossed shield, and do battle with the dragon. Then, may our cry be — even if only silently — “For God, St. George, and the Right!”
Faithful servant of God and invincible martyr, St. George; favored by God with the gift of faith, and inflamed with an ardent love of Christ, thou didst fight valiantly against the dragon of pride, falsehood, and deceit. Neither pain nor torture, sword nor death could part thee from the love of Christ.
I fervently implore thee for the sake of this love to help me by thy intercession to overcome the temptations that surround me, and to bear bravely the trials that oppress me, so that I may patiently carry the cross which is placed upon me; and let neither distress nor difficulties separate me from the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Valiant champion of the Faith, assist me in the combat against evil, that I may win the crown promised to them that persevere unto the end.
