Today is St George’s day, but who is St George?
Saint George is the patron saint of England. He's popularly identified with England and English ideals of honour, bravery and gallantry - but actually he wasn't English at all. It seems that very little, if anything, is known about the real Saint George. Pope Gelasius said that George is one of the saints "whose names are rightly reverenced among us, but whose actions are known only to God."

He is patron saint not only of England but also of Aragon, Catalonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Germany and Greece; and of Moscow, Istanbul, Genoa and Venice (second to Saint Mark). He's also patron saint of soldiers, archers, cavalry and chivalry, farmers and field workers, riders and saddlers, and he helps those suffering from leprosy, plague and syphilis. In recent years he has been adopted as patron saint of Scouts.

Everything about Saint George is dubious, so the information below should be taken as mythical rather than real.
· Born in Cappadocia, an area which is now in Turkey
· Lived in 3rd century AD
· His parents were Christian
· Later lived in Palestine
· Became a Roman soldier
· Protested against Rome's persecution of Christians
· Imprisoned and tortured, but stayed true to his faith
· Beheaded at Lydda in Palestine
· 23rd April was named as Saint George's day in 1222

The story of Saint George is so wrapped in myth and legend that it's difficult to extract the historical facts of a real life. What we believe to be the truth is that George was born in Cappadocia, an area which is now in Turkey, in the 3rd century; that his parents were Christians; and that when his father died, George's mother returned to her native Palestine, taking George with her. George became a soldier in the Roman army and rose to the rank of Tribune.

The Emperor of the day, Diocletian (245-313 AD), began a campaign against Christians at the very beginning of the 4th century. In about 303 AD George is said to have objected to this persecution and resigned his military post in protest.

George tore up the Emperor's order against Christians. This infuriated Diocletian, and George was imprisoned and tortured - but he refused to deny his faith. Eventually he was dragged through the streets of Diospolis (now Lydda) in Palestine and beheaded. It's said that Diocletian's wife was so impressed by George's resilience that she became a Christian and that she too was executed for her faith.

Myths about St George
The image of George most familiar to us today is the saint dressed in a white tunic bedecked with a red cross, astride his stallion, and skewering a dragon as he rescues a fair maiden. This image probably depends more on late medieval ideal of the ‘Knight of Christ’.

The story of Saint George achieved mass circulation when it was printed in 1483 by Caxton in a book called The Golden Legend. This was a translation of a French book, which incorporated fantastic details of Saints' lives. The version that follows is from The Golden Legend:

St. George was a knight and born in Cappadocia. On a time he came in to the province of Libya, to a city which is said Silene. And by this city was a pond like a sea, wherein was a dragon which envenomed all the country.
The people of the town had begun to feed the dragon two sheep every day to prevent it attacking them; when the sheep failed, they began to give it one sheep and one man. The king decreed that the human sacrifice should be chosen by lot. This continued until the king's daughter was selected. The king tried to bargain his way out of it, but the townspeople were adamant that she should be delivered to the dragon just as many of their children had been. The king led his daughter to the place where the dragon was.

George, who was passing, asked the lady what was happening. She told him about the dragon and begged him to leave before it appeared and killed him too. Then said St. George: “Fair daughter, I shall help thee in the name of Jesus Christ”. She said: “For God's sake, good knight, go your way, and abide not with me, for ye may not deliver me”.
The dragon appeared and came running to them, St. George was upon his horse, drew out his sword, garnished him with the sign of the cross, and rode against the dragon which came towards him. He speared him and threw him to the ground.

The princess led the defeated dragon into the city, causing much panic and alarm until George told the people not to be afraid telling them to believe in God and Jesus Christ be baptised and he would slay the dragon
The king was baptised, followed by all his people, whereupon George killed the dragon and had it dragged out of the city (requiring four ox carts to do so) and its body thrown into the fields.
The king set up a church of Our Lady and Saint George. On the site there sprang up "a fountain of living water, which heals sick people that drink thereof".

How did he become England's patron saint?
George's fame had certainly reached England by the reign of Alfred the Great, but it really took off after the Crusades, when it was reported back that he had appeared before the crusaders outside Jerusalem in 1099, spurring them on to martial valour. He was much admired by European knights, and began to appear on banners taken into battle.

In 1222, the Synod of Oxford declared that St George's Day was a feast day in England. Not being English actually gave him an edge over other saints, such as Thomas à Becket, because it meant his cult was not associated with any particular part of the country, so when English knights set off to France to fight the Hundred Years War, they could do so in the name of St George without stirring up regional rivalries. As Shakespeare put it, in Henry V: "God for England, Harry and St George."