ST. GEORGE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 91, 19 April 1939, Page 5

ST. GEORGE

THE DRAGON-SLAYER

ENGLAND'S PATRON SAINT

Although no ■ Britisher residing in New Zealand should need reminding that Sunday next, April 23, is St. George's Day, the fact remains that England's patrog saint has nowhere near the amount of attention paid to his day as do some other patron saints. St. George's Day in New Zealand passes almost unobserved: a few flags are flown, and the Banks observe one of those holidays which no other section of the community does. Beyond that St. George's Day practically passes unnoticed, and in England—the one place where one would think the patron saint might really come into his own, so to speak, just for one day in the year—remarkably little notice is taken of it.

More than once in critical times in England's history the name of St. j George has been invoked. The Crusaders I bore aloft the flag of St. George, with! its blood-red cross on a white ground I (one of the three component crosses of the Union Jack), and for centuries this flag inspired its followers to victory. At the battle of Crecy, for instance, when the English forces were j facing overwhelming odds and defeat seemed certain, it was the cry of "St. George for England!" that won the day. Hundreds of years later, at Zeebrugge, it was to England's patron saint that Sir Roger Keyes turned. His signal, "St. George for England," will rank in history with Nelson's famous signal at Trafalgar. When, however, it is asked who St. George really was, one finds far more legend than authenticated history. Picturesque legend it is too, with tales told in quaint medieval language about St. George's combat with a monstrous "worme." The traditional St. George is always represented as slaying a dragon, symbolising the triumph of Light over the Powers of Darkness. It seems historically certain that St. George was born in Cappadocia, in Asia Minor, in the third century. He was of noble parentage and held high rank in the Roman army. His acceptance of Christianity, however, led to his martyrdom, reputed to have taken place on April 23, A.D. 303. Legend supplies many details, even to the extent that he suffered seven distinct martyrdoms, miraculously reviving after each. Perhaps Pope Gelasius (494 A:D.) was not far wrong when he said that the name of St. George must be mentioned in the list of those "whose names are justly reverenced amongst men, but whose acts are known only to God."

St. George became widely popular as a military patron saint, Aragon and Portugal claiming him for their own as well as England. He was regarded as the chief of the seven champions of Christendom, and was especially the patron saint of chivalry.

It was due to Edward 111 that St. George became the patron saint of England, replacing Edward the Confessor, who up to that time had held that honour alternately with St. Alban and St. Cuthbert. As far back as the year 1222 the Council of Oxford ordained that the feast of St. George should be observed in England as a national festival, and in 1415 St. George's Day was constituted a major double feast, comparable to Christmas in that no work was to be done on that day.

St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, founded by Edward 111, is world famous. The same monarch instituted the ancient Order of the Garter, which has, as one of its other titles, that of the Royal Order of St. George. So England's patron saint still has his memory kept green, even if his day is not widely celebrated. The Royal Society of St. George, which has branches in all parts of "the Empire, including New Zealand, helps to see to that. But we no longer have the beautiful golden sovereigns on the back of which St. George, in scanty attire and with inadequate weapons, was trying conclusions with his dragon.