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\nDo I Need To Worship? From the album Heart and Soul featuring the Mustard Seed Soul Band recorded and produced by Ross Gill<\/p>\nI am sure you knew that yesterday was St George\u2019s Day but did you know these things about him? <\/p>\n
1. ST GEORGE WASN’T ENGLISH…
\nSt George might be hailed as a national hero, but he was actually born \u2013 in the 3rd century AD \u2013 more than 2,000 miles away in Cappadocia (modern day Turkey).
\nHe is thought to have died in Lydda (modern day Israel) in the Roman province of Palestine in AD 303. It is believed that his tomb was in Lod and was a centre of Christian pilgrimage.<\/p>\n
2. AND HE WASN’T A KNIGHT EITHER
\nAlthough George is often depicted in popular culture as a knight in shining armour, the truth is less fanciful.
\nWhilst St George was depicted from the 11th century as a chilvaric knight or a warrior on horseback, it is more likely that he was an officer in the Roman army.<\/p>\n
3. ST GEORGE WAS A MARTYR …
\nLike many saints, St George was described as a martyr after he died for his Christian faith.
\nIt is believed that during the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian in the early 4th century, St George was executed for refusing to make a sacrifice in honour of the pagan gods.<\/p>\n
4. … BUT HE NEVER VISITED ENGLAND
\nAlthough St George never visited England, his reputation for virtue and holiness spread across Europe and his feast day \u2013 the 23rd April \u2013 was celebrated in England from the 9th century onwards.
\nHe became popular with English kings. Edward I (1272-1307) had banners bearing the emblem of St George (a red cross on a white background) and Edward III (1327-77) had a strong interest in the saint and owned a relic of his blood.
\nThe St George cross was not used to represent England until the reign of Henry VIII.<\/p>\n
5. THE DRAGON WAS ADDED LATER
\nThe story goes that St George rode into Silene (modern day Libya) to free the city from a dragon who had a taste for humans.
\nBut it’s a story which post-dates the real George by several centuries.
\nImages of George and the dragon survive from the 9th century \u2013 500 years after his death. Originally these may simply have been representations of the battle between good and evil.
\nBut the story was developed and popularised in the Middle Ages in a compendium of stories about saints’ lives, The Golden Legend.<\/p>\n
6. ST GEORGE WAS A SAINT FOR 1,000 YEARS BEFORE THE ‘HOLIDAY’
\nSt George was canonised in AD 494 by Pope Gelasius, who claimed he was one of those ‘whose names are justly revered among men but whose acts are known only to God’.
\nA feast day of St George has been celebrated in England for hundreds of years on 23 April, which was possibly the date of his martyrdom.
\nFollowing the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, St George’s Day became one of the most important feast days in the English calendar.<\/p>\n
7. ENGLAND ISN’T THE ONLY COUNTRY TO CELEBRATE ST GEORGE
\nSt George is truly an international saint and England is not the only country or region to claim him as its patron.
\nEngland shares St George with Venice, Genoa, Portugal, Ethiopia and Catalonia among others as their patron saint and many of these places have their own celebrations and ceremonies in his honour.<\/p>\n
8. PEOPLE TURNED TO ST GEORGE FOR PROTECTION
\nDuring the Middle Ages, people believed that St George was one of the ‘Fourteen Holy Helpers’ \u2013 a group of saints who could help during epidemic diseases.
\nSt George’s protection was invoked against several nasty diseases, many fatal and with infectious causes, including the Plague and leprosy.
\nFrom around 1100, St George’s help was also sought to protect the English army.
\nIn Shakespeare’s Henry V, the eponymous hero calls on the saint during his battle cry at the Battle of Harfleur in the famous ‘Once more unto the breach, dear friends’ speech, crying ‘God for Harry! England, and St. George!’
\nFive hundred years later \u2013 during the First World War \u2013 a ghostly apparition of St George is said to have aided British troops during their retreat from Mons, and the naval commander of the Zeebrugge Raid cited the saint as inspiration.<\/p>\n
9. ST GEORGE REPRESENTS THOSE WE HONOUR
\nThe Order of the Garter (founded by Edward III in 1348) is the highest order of chivalry in the country. To this day St George\u2019s cross still appears on the Garter badge and his image is the pendant of the Garter chain.
\nIn 1940 King George VI created a new award for acts of the greatest heroism or courage in circumstance of extreme danger. The George Cross, named after the king, bears the image of St George vanquishing the dragon.
\nThe image of St George also adorns many of the memorials built to honour those killed during World War One.<\/p>\n
Source English Heritage<\/p>\n
Quote of the week<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/quote-this-blessed-plot-this-earth-this-realm-this-england-william-shakespeare-47-79-68.jpg\")
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