Saint George

Saint George

George, Saint George, Saint (?-303?), Christian martyr, born in Cappadocia in eastern Asia Minor.

His life is obscured by legend, but his martyrdom at Lydda, Palestine, is generally considered a matter of historical fact. It is attested by two early Syrian church inscriptions and by a canon of Pope Gelasius I, dated 494, in which Saint George is mentioned as one whose name was held in reverence.

The most popular of the legends that have grown up around him relates his encounter with the dragon, a story that may have been influenced by the Greek myth of Perseus and Andromeda.

This painting by Italian Renaissance artist Paolo Uccello depicts the 4th-century Christian Saint George rescuing a princess as he kills a dragon that had been terrorizing a city. After slaying the dragon, George converted the town to Christianity. Painted about 1460, Saint George and the Dragon is in the National Gallery in London, England.

Paolo Uccello/The National Gallery, London/Corbis

A pagan town in Libya was victimized by a dragon (representing the devil), which the inhabitants first attempted to placate by offerings of sheep and then by the sacrifice of various members of their community.

The daughter of the king (representing the church) was chosen by lot and was taken out to await the coming of the monster, but George arrived, killed the dragon, and converted the community to Christianity.

In 1222 the Council of Oxford ordered that the feast of Saint George, on April 23, be celebrated as a national festival, and in the 14th century he became the patron saint of England and of the Order of the Garter.

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