Saint George

Saint George was a martyr whom all the Churches of East and West have venerated since antiquity. He died for the faith at Lydda in Palestine, also called Diospolis. He is among the best-known saints, although we know almost nothing certain about his life. The Church commemorates him on April 23.

The Roman Martyrology speaks of him briefly: it commemorates a martyr whose glorious struggle at Diospolis, or Lydda, has long been celebrated by all the Churches. We do not know the year of his birth or of his death. What is certain is that from at least the 4th century he was venerated as a martyr at his tomb in Lydda, today Lod in Israel. Pilgrims who visited the Holy Land in the 6th and 7th centuries write about this tomb. So ancient a veneration, tied to a particular place, speaks for George being a historical figure.

The accounts of his life and passion arose later and are legend. According to them, George came from Cappadocia, from a Christian family, and served in the Roman army. When Emperor Diocletian began to persecute Christians at the beginning of the 4th century, George is said to have given his possessions to the poor and openly professed his faith, for which, after being tortured, he was beheaded. Already an ancient decree attributed to Pope Gelasius I counted the account of his martyrdom among the apocryphal writings that are not read in the Roman Church. It added, however, that the Church venerates all the martyrs and their struggles, which are better known to God than to men.

The best-known story, that of the fight with the dragon, is later still. It appeared in the Middle Ages and was spread in the 13th century by the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine. It tells that in the Libyan city of Silene George overcame a dragon to which the inhabitants were to hand over the king’s daughter to be devoured, after which the people received baptism. The Church sees in this image a sign of the faith that conquers evil. Art therefore portrays the saint as a knight on horseback, piercing the dragon with his lance.

The veneration of Saint George spread throughout the Christian world. In the East he is called the Great Martyr. In Rome the relic of his head is kept in the church of San Giorgio in Velabro. In the time of the Crusades he became the patron of knights, and around 1348 King Edward III of England founded the Order of the Garter and placed it under his protection. He is the patron of England, Portugal, and Catalonia, and also of soldiers and scouts.

George was not canonized in a formal process; he has been venerated since antiquity. In the general calendar of the Church as renewed in 1969, precisely because certain information about his life is lacking, his day has the rank of an optional memorial. In England it is a solemnity, and in Poland, where April 23 is the solemnity of Saint Adalbert, he is commemorated a day later.