Why St George?

All we know of St George is that he was a Christian soldier in the Roman army, martyred in Palestine or Nicomedia (in what is now Turkey) in the early fourth century. So how did this obscure figure end up as our patron saint?

St George was killed during the last and most terrible of the Roman persecutions of Christians, under Emperor Diocletian, lasting from AD 302-5. Around ten years after his death, a Christian emperor, Constantine, came to power, and George was now one of many martyrs revered as a saint. He was a popular saint in the east, and a Church in his honour was built at the site of his grave, in Lydda, Palestine.


The cult of the saint was given a huge boost during the First Crusade, when he was said to have appeared to the crusading armies at the Battle of Dorylaeum, in 1097, and the Siege of Antioch, in 1198. Both were great crusading victories, and so St George came to be seen as a protector of Christian soldiery.



Dragon killer

The story of St George killing the dragon was first told, in the east, in the 11th century. It was popularised in Europe by the Italian writer, Jacobus de Voragine (1229-1281) in his collection of saints' lives, The Golden Legend. In the late 15th century, this was the most widely printed book in Europe. According to Jacobus, a town called Sylene in Libya was terrorised by a dragon. The local people had to provide the monster with a female victim every day, chosen by lot. When St George visited the town, he discovered that the king's daughter was the chosen victim. St George wounded the dragon, and then led it back to Sylene, where he told the people that he would kill the monster if they converted to Christianity. When they agreed, he chopped off its head.

Edited from: http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/st-george-flag/biography/who-was-st-george