Saint George

Saint George
Painting by Gustave Moreau depicting Saint George slaying the Dragon
Martyr
Born	between ca. AD 275 and 281, Nicomedia, Bithynia, Roman Empire
Died	April 23, 303, Lydda, Iudaea, Roman Empire
Venerated in	Anglicanism Eastern Orthodoxy Lutheranism Oriental Orthodoxy Roman Catholicism
Major shrine	Church of Saint George, Lod
Feast	April 23
Attributes	Clothed as a soldier in a suit of armour or chain mail, often bearing a lance tipped by a cross, riding a white horse, often slaying a dragon. In the West he is shown with St George's Cross emblazoned on his armour, or shield or banner.
Patronage	agricultural workers; Amersfoort, Netherlands; Aragon; archers; armourers; Beirut, Lebanon; Bulgaria; butchers; Cappadocia; Catalonia; cavalry; chivalry; Constantinople; Corinthians (Brazilian football team); Crusaders; England; equestrians; Ethiopia; farmers; Ferrara; field workers; Genoa; Georgia; Gozo; Greece; Haldern, Germany; Heide; herpes; horsemen; horses; husbandmen; knights; lepers and leprosy; Lithuania; Lod; Malta; Modica, Sicily; Moscow; Order of the Garter; Palestine; Palestinian Christians; Piran; plague; Portugal; Portuguese Army; Portuguese Navy; Ptuj, Slovenia; Reggio Calabria; riders; saddle makers; Scouts; sheep; shepherds; skin diseases; soldiers; syphilis; Teutonic Knights[1]

George of Lydda (ca. 275/281 – April 23, 303) was according to tradition,^[2] a Roman soldier in the Guard of Emperor Diocletian, venerated as a Christian martyr.

In Christian hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Anglican Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Eastern Catholic Churches. He is immortalised in the tale of George and the Dragon and is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. His memorial is celebrated on 23 April. He is regarded as one of the most prominent military saints.

St. George is the patron saint of Aragon, Catalonia, England, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Palestine, Portugal, and Russia, as well as the cities of Amersfoort, Beirut, Bteghrine, Cáceres, Ferrara, Freiburg, Genoa, Ljubljana, Gozo, Pomorie, Qormi, Lod and Moscow, as well as a wide range of professions, organisations and disease sufferers.

[edit] Life and legend

Saint George is not commemorated in any early vita or acta that would have some merit as reflecting history and cannot be accounted a historical individual.^[3] Chief among the late sources is the Golden Legend, which remains the most familiar version in English owing to William Caxton's 15th century translation.

The traditional legend offers a historicised narration of George's encounter with his dragon: see "St. George and the Dragon" below. The modern legend that follows is synthesized from early and late hagiographical sources, omitting the more fantastical episodes, to narrate a purely human military career in closer harmony with modern expectations of reality.