St. George
Feastday: April 23
Patron of England & Catalonia
Pictures of St. George usually
show
him killing a dragon to rescue
a
beautiful lady. The dragon stands
for wickedness. The lady stands
for God's holy truth. St. George
was a brave martyr who was
victorious over the devil.
He was a soldier in the army of
the Roman Emperor Diocletian,
and he was one of the Emperor's
favorite soldiers. Now Diocletian
was a pagan and a bitter enemy
to the Christians. He put
to death
every Christian he could find.
George was a brave Christian,
a real soldier of Christ. Without
fear, he went to the Emperor
and sternly scolded him for
being so cruel. Then he gave
up his position in the Roman
army. For this he was tortured
in many terrible ways and
finally beheaded.
So boldly daring and so cheerful
was St. George in declaring his
Faith and in dying for it that
Christians felt courage when
they heard about it. Many songs
and poems were written about
this martyr. Soldiers, especially,
have always been devoted to him.
We all have some "dragon" we have
to conquer. It might be pride,
or anger,
or laziness, or greediness, or
something
else. Let us make sure we fight
against
these "dragons", with God's help.
