Today is the feast day of St George the patron saint of England, Georgia, Portugal, Romania, Malta and Gozo.
Celebrated on various dates
In England his feast is held on the 23rd of April, but it is celebrated on various dates in different countries. For instance, in Bulgaria it is celebrated on 6th May. St George was originally believed to be a Christian officer in the Roman army who was martyred around 300, but this seemed a bit dull (unless you were the saint himself who no doubt found being martyred a bit too interesting). So, in the thirteenth century Voragine livened the story up by adding a dragon. Voragine set the story in Silene in Libya and claimed that the locals had a serious dragon problem which involved them feeding the greedy creature the king’s daughter. Luckily for the princess (but not the dragon) St. George was passing by at the time and rescued the princess, killing the dragon in the process.
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St. George’s Day is not particularly widely celebrated in England and is not a national holiday with only about one in five English people knowing when his fast day is held.
