SATURDAY (April 23) is St George’s Day.

St George himself probably served as a Palestinian soldier in the Roman army.

During the last great persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Diocletian, he was tortured to death in about 303AD and buried at Lydda, in modern-day Israel. 

St George is, of course, England’s patron saint.

His cult was popularised in England by Crusaders returning from the Middle East.

In 1098, during the First Crusade, Christian soldiers reported seeing a vision of him just before they recaptured Antioch from its Muslim defenders.

A century later during the Third Crusade, Richard the Lionheart placed his army under the Saint’s protection.

After the English victory at Agincourt, St George’s Day was made a major church feast in England and Edward III placed the Order of the Garter under the Saint’s patronage. 

St George’s Day is an opportunity to think about English nationalism.

This can be ‘inclusive’ – tolerant, law-abiding, compassionate; or it can be ‘exclusive’ – inward-looking, xenophobic, racist.

Which nationalism would St George encounter if he arrived in England today, a fugitive from religious persecution in the Middle East? 

And how can we forget the dragon?

A medieval legend tells how it was terrorising a whole community in modern-day Libya.

It was fed two sheep a day, but when the supply of sheep ran out, the King’s daughter was picked to be its next meal.

St George duly captured the dragon and rescued the damsel in distress.

He then promised to kill the beast if the king and his people were baptised, to which they agreed.

For his services the ever chivalrous St George took no reward. 

A quaint but irrelevant fairytale?

Or are we feeding one or two troublesome dragons both inside and outside of us that should be skewered?

JOE DUNTHORN
St Peter’s Church 
Cirencester