Civitas Blog

The man who is England’s patron saint was reputedly a real Roman soldier born in Cappadocia, eastern Turkey, in the third century to converts to Christianity before their faith had become the official religion of the Roman Empire and whilst adherents of it were still being persecuted by the pagan Romans.

One Roman emperor still making life tough for the coreligionists of his parents was Diocletian in whose army George reputedly served. It was supposedly whilst on a mission to England that George discovered the suffering being inflicted on Christians by Romans, upon which discovery George supposedly returned to Rome to plead with the emperor on their behalf -- in vain, as it turned out. George was beheaded for his efforts on the orders of Dicoletian, supposedly in of all places Lydda, now in present-day Israel. He thereby underwent the martyrdom for which he was subsequently canonised.

It was not until a thousand years later that St George became official patron saint of England. This was well after, but because of, the symbolism associated with the legend of his slaying of the dragon, a legend that had become added to his name centuries before. Indeed, the legend was no more of English provenance than was the saint himself, but also like him of middle-eastern origin.

According to this legend, it was whilst journeying through Libya, then under the rule of Egyptian kings, that George heard about a dragon that, like the minotaur, feasted on a daily diet of young maidens whose supply had all but been exhausted, save for the daughter of the king of Egypt who had promised her hand to whoever would slay the dragon, an act of gallantry that George obligingly performed.

This legend had become attached to George’s name because, from early Christian times, dragons were used as symbols of the devil, unmitigated evil. The legend represents the triumph of good over evil that had been enacted by his stalwart defence of Christianity against persecution, and, at a more general level, the triumph of the Christian spirit over the forces of darkness.

It was doubtless because of the resonance of this legend about St George that caused Richard 1 to make St George's red cross, something that had come to symbolise George's own martyrdom, the emblem to be worn on their chests by all fellow crusaders who, at the end of the twelfth century, won back Jerusalem from the Saracen invaders of Palestine, albeit only temporarily.

It was another brave Englishman, or, rather, Englishwoman -- Florence Nightingale -- who also resorted to use of the same symbol as the emblem to be worn by all her fellow army nurses in the Crimean War, a war, incidentally and significantly, Britain waged in defence of Muslim Turks against Russian aggression.

Reference to the nursing of casualties of aggression leads me to the present-day relevance of St George in the light of yesterday’s horrific events in London.

St George became patron saint of England for the same reason as the legend of his slaying a dragon became attached to his name. His martydom, as does the legend, symbolises the triumph of Christian faith, hope and charity in the face of evil. A better and more fitting symbol for this country today can hardly be imagined!

It is a symbol for this country whose calls for jettisoning all British patriots should ardently resist, as they should all who currently seek to harm its inhabitants and their free, generous, tolerant, kindly way of life.