Today is, of course, St. George’s Day. St. George is Patron of archers, armourers, Boy Scouts, butchers, cavalry, chivalry, Crusaders, equestrians, farmers, field hands, field workers, horsemen, horses, husbandmen, knights, lepers, Order of the Garter, Palestinian Christians, riders, Romanian Army, saddle makers, saddlers, sheep, shepherds, soldiers, Teutonic Knights; Canada; England; Ethiopia; Georgia; Germany; Greece; Lithuania; Malta; Portugal; Cappadocia; Catalonia; Palestine; over 20 cities and diocese around the world. His name is invoked against herpes, leprosy, plague, skin diseases, skin rashes, syphilis. By the middle ages, St. George was revered in much of Europe as the personification of chivalry.
Saint George’s Day is usually celebrated on 23 April, the traditionally accepted date of the saint’s death in the Diocletianic Persecution. St. George, also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the Roman army. Of Cappadocian Greek origin, he became a member of the Praetorian Guard for Roman emperor Diocletian, but was sentenced to death for refusing to recant his Christian faith, as part of the Diocletianic Persecution.
In hagiography, he is immortalised in the legend of Saint George and the Dragon and as one of the most prominent military saints. The story goes that the dragon originally extorted tribute from villagers. When they ran out of livestock and trinkets for the dragon, they started giving up a human tribute once a day. One day, the princess herself was chosen as the next offering. As she was walking toward the dragon’s cave, St. George saw her and asked her why she was crying. The princess told the saint about the dragon’s atrocities and asked him to flee immediately, in fear that he might be killed too. But the saint refused to flee, slew the dragon, and rescued the princess.
To save a Maid, St. George the Dragon slew
A pretty tale, if all is told be true
Most say, there are no Dragons, and ’tis said
There was no George: pray God there was a Maid.
— John Aubrey, Remains of Gentilism (1688)
Saint George and the Dragon – Raphael
It’s Shakespeare’s birthday!
Today is the birthday, in 1940, of Dale Houston, American singer who, along with his performing partner, Grace Broussard, hit the Billboard chart as Dale & Grace with two rock and roll singles. The first was the No. 1 gold record ‘I’m Leaving It Up to You’ in 1963. ‘Stop and Think It Over’ reached No. 8 in 1964. Their recordings are highly regarded examples of the Louisiana-Texas style known as “Swamp Pop”. Houston died on 27 September 2007. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5L5i7ARdAY
