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ST. GEORGE.
(By R.McC.)
No time could be more suitable than the
present to ask ourselves what we know
of England's patron saint; for to-morrow
is his festival, the day commemorating
nis martyrdom and deatn. i suspect we
do not lake our national hero very seri
ously. To the average man St. George
is a shadowy figure who has attracted
much unwarranted publicity by slaying a
mythical dragon. But surely there is more
to it than that? Why was he, rather
than any other, chosen as the patron saint,
of England, Aragon and Portugal? And
why has his story so attracted attention
that it appears in the literature of Greece;
Italy, Arabia, Ethiopia, Syria and Egypt?
Little over a century ago, his true his
tory was lost in a tangle of pious legend
and extravagant fable; till in 1796 one
Samuel Pegge, who seems to have been
a man of painstaking humour, read a paper
to the Antiquarians' Society. This society
held their, anniversary on April 23, St.
George's Day. Picture the consternation
among those learned gentlemen when Mr,
Pegge pointed out the absurdity of the
custom, by proving to his own satisfaction,'
that St. George never existed! But the
man who thought to have been the
martyr's enemy, turned out to be his
very good friend. Several of the
antiquarians, regarding his opinion as
heresy and treason, delved into the mass
of legend that surrounded the saint's name
and proved beyond doubt the existence
of a real and historical George. Their
victory, however, was not absolute; for
when they, had stripped his story of the
fantastic legends and incredible miracles,
it was insignificant enough, being briefly
as follows.
Early in the third century there lived
in Palestine a Christian Sheikh, who en
joyed wealth and power under the Romas
governor. His son, George, was renowned
for his prowess in all athletic exercises;
and bought an appointment in the army.
On his father's death he went to obtain
this appointment. What happened next
is not exactly known. The emperor Dio
cletian viewed Christians with disfavour;
and apparently because he refused to ab
jure his faith, George was tortured and
put' to_ death. Dubious elements in his
story include his organisation of the
Christian community of Urmi, and his
visit to Britain on an Imperial expedition.
His fate aroused great interest, per
haps because the tortures were unusually
barbarous; and certainly aided by his
exalted birth and position, and by the
fact that he was martyred on the eve
of the triumph of Christianity. Be the
reason what it may, pilgrims soon began
to visit his tomb at Lydda, and to his
miraculous powers (they attributed any
unusual events that occurred there. His
shrine, too, was reared near the scene
of. the' great Greek legend of Perseus and
Andromeda, and, as was frequently the
custom in those credulous Middle Ages,
the store of pagan legends was transferred
to a Christian hero. He became a na
tional saint, and all the powers tradi
tionally attributed to national saints and
gods were bestowed on him. ? ? ?
Popularity In Ehjland.
The Crusaders travelling through Pales
tine constantly heard stories pi the 'ex-
ploits of Saint George of Lydda, sometimes;
called of Cappodocia; and took back re-,
ports of his miracles to England. . These
were listened to eagerly, the more so since
they believed 'that he aided them in de
feating the Saracens. On one occasion,
they said, he appeared from the clouds
at the head of a vast army, clothed- all
in white, on white horses, and with the
crimson cross emblazoned on their shields.
In acknowledgment of this service Edward
III. made him the patron saint o.f Eng
land, and ordered the day of his martyr
dom to be observed .throughout the land.
But his fame did not always go unsullied.
So extravagant were* many of the tales
concocted about him, that in the fifth cen
tury Pope Cfelasius named his life among
those .'forbidden to be read in the churches,
since 'they, gave occasion for .derisive
laughter.' This was jbut a slight set-,
back, compared to the reaction after the
Reformation To show their, intellectual
freedom from hidebdund custom, men
laughed at the old saints,, and branded
their- cult as idolatrous.. Such men as
Luther. Calvin, Tilenus, etc., spoke, slight-.'
ingly-of St. George as a hobgoblin, a
tragelaphus, a scarcecrow, 'a deity created
by some madde and idle brains for the
poor people to fall down and worship.'
The great Dr. Reynolds went further in
condemnation, describing him as a heretic,
and believed that 'the bloody butcher of
Christians was in hell.' -The climax came
when, as we have already mentioned,
Samuel Pegge thought to hare proved him
mythical, thus inadvertently stimulating
antiquarians to unearth his true story^ It
was. then: found that much of the vitupera
tion' of recent centuries had been unjustly
levelled at, him from a confusion of his
name with that. of the notorious George,
of Laodicea, sometimes called the Cap
podocian, the villainous bishop' of Alex
andria. ' \ , '??' ??'; ? ?-?'?';
Significance of the Dragon. /
One' point that long puzzled the anti
quarians was the association of St. George
with a dragon, for obviously hie never
fought a dragon. One explanation was
that the* local legend of Perseus- slaying
'the -sea monster to rescue Andromeda,
had been grafted on to his name. Lending
credence to this theory is an interesting
incident often told in his life— that of the
conversion of Queen Alexandra, and his
rescue of her from the. pagan Dodianus—
which would seem to be merely a new ver
sion of; the Andromeda tale. But this
overlooks the' important fact that, early
drawings of St. George, complete witty
dragon, existed centuries before Queen
Alexandra appeared in.the story.- When
we notice' that many of the earlier draw
ings represent,' not a dragon, but a ser
pent, a more probable explanation is sug
gested. We know that in the Middle Ages
the Devil was frequently represented as
a serpent: and so* the well-known myth of
the sungod as conqueror of the powers of
darkness thus attaches itself the symoblism
of the Christian martyr's victory over
eviK / N
And now, we may well ask, what is
the significance of St. George to-day. 1 .
believe that our patron saint still has a
message for/ us. He is the symbol, stand
ing for ideals for which we still strive
vainly. He is the perfect Christian knight,'
the type of chivalrous manhood, of un
daunted courage — courage /that does not sit
quiescent, but battles, straining every
fibre in the struggle of good against evil.
That is the message St. George brings us
to-day — courage to fight for the Truth!
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