ST

ST. GEORGE SITES

April 23 is the feast of St. George. As an Intro to his cultus, we begin with the account given of the Saint by Dom Gueranger in his Liturgical Year:

23 APRIL

St. George

Clad in his bright suit of mail, mounted on his war-steed, and spearing the dragon with his lance, George, the intrepid champion of our Risen Jesus, comes to gladden us to-day with his feast. From the East, where he is known as the great Martyr, devotion to St. George soon spread in the Western Church, and our Christian armies have always loved and honoured him as one of their dearest patrons. His martyrdom took place in Paschal Time; and thus he stands before us as the guardian of the glorious sepulchre, just as Stephen, the Protomartyr, watches near the crib of the Infant God.

The Roman Liturgy gives no lessons on the life of St. George; but, in their stead, reads to us a passage from St. Cyprian on the sufferings of the martyrs. This derogation from the general rule dates from the fifth century. At a celebrated Council held in Rome in the year 496, Pope St. Gelasius drew up, for the guidance of the faithful, a list of books which might or might not be read without danger. Among the number of those that were to be avoided, he mentioned the Acts of St. George, as having been compiled by one who, besides being an ignorant man, was a heretic. In the East, however, there were other Acts of the holy martyr, totally different from those current in Rome; but they were not known in that city. The cultus of St. George lost nothing, in the holy city, by this absence of a true legend. From a very early period, a church was built in his honour; it was one of those that were selected as Stations, and gave a Title to a Cardinal; it exists to this day, and it is called Saint George in Velabro (the Veil of Gold).

The Bollandists were in possession of several copies of the forbidden Acts; they found them replete with absurd stories, and of course, they rejected them. Father Papebroch has given us other and genuine Acts written in Greek, and quoted by St. Andrew of Crete. They bring out the admirable character of our martyr, who held an important post in the Roman Army during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian. He was one of the first victims of the great persecution and suffered death at Nicomedia. Alexandra, the Emperor's wife, was so impressed at witnessing the Saint's courage, that she professed herself a Christian, and shared the crown of martyrdom with the brave soldier of Christ.

As we have already said, devotion to St. George dates from a very early period. St. Gregory of Tours gives us several proofs of its having taken root in Gaul. St. Clotilde had a singular confidence in the holy martyr, and dedicated to him the Church of her dear Abbey of Chelles. But this devotion became more general and more fervent during the Crusades, when the Christian armies witnessed the veneration in which St. George was held by the Eastern Church, and heard the wonderful things that were told of his protection on the field of battle. The Byzantine historians have recorded several remarkable instances of the kind; and the Crusaders returned to their respective countries publishing their own experience of the victories gained through the Saint's intercession. The Republic of Genoa chose him for its patron; and Venice honoured him as its special protector, after St. Mark. But nowhere was St. George so enthusiastically loved as in England. Not only was it decreed in a Council held at Oxford, in the year 1222, that the feast of the Great Martyr should be observed as one of obligation; not only was devotion to the valiant soldier of Christ encouraged throughout Great Britain, by the first Norman Kings; but there are documents anterior to the invasion of William the Conqueror, which prove that St. George was invoked as the special patron of England even so far back as the ninth century. Edward III did but express the sentiment of the country when he put the Order of the Garter, which he instituted in 1330, under the patronage of the warrior Saint. In Germany, King Frederic III founded the Order of St. George in the year 1468.

St. George is usually represented as killing a dragon; and where the representation is complete, there is also given the figure of a princess, whom the Saint thus saves from being devoured by the monster. This favourite subject of both sacred and profane art is purely symbolical, and is of Byzantine origin. It signifies the victory won over the devil, by the martyr's courageous profession of faith; the princess represents Alexandra, who was converted by witnessing the Saint's heroic patience under his sufferings. Neither the Acts of St. George nor the hymns of the Greek Liturgy allude to the martyr's having slain a dragon and rescued a princess. It was not till after the fourteenth century that this fable was known in the West; and it arose from a material interpretation of the emblems with which the Greeks honoured St. George, and which were introduced among us by the crusaders.

Although, as has been said, the Office of St. George in the Roman Breviary has been taken from the Common of Martyrs in Paschal Time, the following historical lesson has recently been approved for the Dioceses of England:

George, who among the martyrs of the East has received the name of the Great Martyr, suffered a glorious death for the sake of Christ in the persecution of Diocletian. When shortly afterwards peace was given to the Church under Constantine, the memory of St. George began to be celebrated. Churches were erected to his honour in Palestine and at Constantinople, and devotion to him spread through the East and into the West. From early times Christian armies have invoked the protection of St. George, together with SS. Maurice and Sebastian, when going into battle. Special devotion was shown to St. George in England for many centuries, and Pope Benedict XIV declared him the special Protector of that kingdom.

Let us, in honour of our glorious patron, recite the following stanzas, taken from the Menaea of the Greek Church:

HYMN

(Die XXIII Aprilis)

Faithful friend of Christ---

Prince of his soldiers---most

Brilliant luminary of earth---

Star of fairest light---watchful

Guardian of such as honour

Thee! Be thou our guardian, O

Martyr George.

Blessed George! We celebrate

Thy combat, whereby thou didst

Destroy the idols, and bring to

Nought the manifold errors that

Were spread by demons, O

Most glorious martyr of Christ.

Thou hast been made a

Member of the heavenly army,

O blessed George! Thou

Contemplatest, as far as may be,

The Divine Nature. Vouchsafe

To protect us all who venerate

Thee.

Out of ardent love for Christ

His King, who gave his life for

The world's salvation, the great

Soldier George longed to suffer

Death for his sake. He delivered

Himself up, for his heart was

inflamed with divine zeal. Let us,

therefore, full of faith, celebrate

his praise in our hymns, as our

earnest defender, as the glorious

servant of Christ, as the faithful

imitator of his Lord, as one that

is ever beseeching God to grant

us the forgiveness and pardon

of our sins.

The angelic host is in admiration

At thy combat, O thou

Prince of warriors! The very

King of angels, struck with

Admiration, desired thy beauty,

O martyr! --- therefore did he

Deign to make thee his

Companion forever in his kingdom.

Imitating thy Lord, O martyr,

Thou didst cheerfully and willingly

Deliver thyself up to the

Battle. Thou didst gain the

Victory and merit to become the

Guardian of the Church of

Christ, which thou dost

Unceasingly defend and protect.

As the invincible martyr, as

The prize-bearing victor, as the

Unconquerable defender of the

Faith, be now an impregnable

Tower to them that celebrate

Thy praise, O wise George! And

Protect them from all dangers

By thy intercession.

Decked with a brilliant crown,

Beautified with a royal diadem

And sceptre, and clad in a purple

Robe reddened with thy blood,

Thou, O happy martyr, now

Reignest in heaven with the King

Of the angelic hosts.

Come, all ye people, let us

celebrate in festive song the

Bright and glorious Resurrection

Of the Lord; let us also joyously

Celebrate the bright memory of

George the martyr: let us crown

Him, as the invincible soldier,

With the flowers of spring: that

By his prayers we may deserve

To be freed from tribulation and

Sin.

Spring is come; let us exult

With joy: the Resurrection of

Christ hath shone upon us; let

Us rejoice in gladness: the feast

Of the prize-bearing martyr

George hath appeared, gladdening

The faithful with its brightness:

Come, then, let us who love

His feast celebrate it with our

Spiritual canticles. For, like a

Brave soldier, George stood with

Manly courage before the

Tyrants, and covered them with

Confusion, being an imitator of

The Passion of our Saviour

Jesus Christ. He had no pity

On the earthen vessel of his

Body, but wholly transformed

It by delivering it to torments,

As brass is melted by fire.

Thus, then, let us cry out unto

Him: O prize-bearing martyr!

Beseech God that he save our

Souls.

Thou, O George, art the glorious type of a Christian soldier. While serving under an earthly monarch, thou didst not forget thy duty to the King of heaven. Thou didst shed thy blood for the faith of Christ; and he, in return, appointed thee protector of Christian armies. Be their defender in battle, and bless with victory them that fight in a just cause. Protect them under the shadow of thy standard; cover them with thy shield; make them the terror of their enemies. Our Lord is the God of Hosts; and he frequently uses war as the instrument of his designs, both of justice and mercy. They alone win true victory who have heaven on their side; and such soldiers, when on the battle-field, seem to the world to be doing the work of men, whereas it is the work of God they are furthering. Hence they are more generous, because more religious, then other men. The sacrifices they have to make, and the dangers they have to face, teach them unselfishness. What wonder, then, that soldiers have given so many martyrs to Christ!

But there is another warfare, in which we Christians are all enlisted, and of which St. Paul speaks, when he says: Labour as a good soldier of Christ; for no man is crowned, save he that striveth lawfully. That we have thus to strive and fight during our life, the same Apostle assures us in these words: Take unto you the armour of God, that ye may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of the hope of salvation, and the sword of the sprit, which is the word of God. We, then, are soldiers, as thou wast, O holy martyr! Before ascending into heaven, our divine leader wished to review his troops; do thou present us to him. He has loaded us with honours, notwithstanding our past disloyalties; we must, henceforth, prove ourselves worthy of our position. In the Paschal Communion, which we have received, we have a pledge of victory; how can we ever be so base as to allow ourselves to be conquered! Watch over us, O sainted warrior! Let thy prayer and example encourage us to fight against the dragon of hell. He dreads the armour we wear; for it is Jesus Himself that prepared it for us, and tempered it in his own precious Blood: may we, like thee, present it to Him whole and entire, when he calls us to our eternal rest!

There was a time when the whole Christian world loved and honoured thy memory with enthusiastic joy: but now, alas! This memory has grown cold, and thy feast passes unnoticed by thousands. O holy martyr! Avenge this ingratitude by imitating thy divine King, who maketh his sun to shine upon both good and bad; take pity on this world, perverted as it is by false doctrines, and tormented at this very time by the most terrible scourges. Have compassion on thy dear England, which has been seduced by the dragon of hell, and by him made the instrument for effecting his plots against the Lord and his Christ. Take up thy spear as of old; give the monster battle, and emancipate the isle of Saints from his slavish yoke. Heaven and earth join in this great prayer! In the name of our Risen Jesus, aid thine own and once devoted people to a glorious resurrection!

Dom Gueranger, Op. Cit., Vol. VIII, ³Paschal Time,² Bk. 2, pp. 333-40.

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Now, for the sites themselves!

GENERAL

St. George (Catholic Encyclopedia)

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06453a.htm

St. George (Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George

St. George's Day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._George%27s_Day

St. George the Ubiquitous

http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/197106/st.george.the.ubiquitous.htm