For Saint George and Merrie England: A Belated Interlude in Honour of St George’s Day

In these dark times it seems like a good idea to take a little time out to reflect on Saint George, Patron Saint of England (as also of Bulgaria, Ethiopia, Greece, Portugal and Russia; he has an extensive portfolio), whose feast day was celebrated yesterday, 23rd April.  

Some background here:

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/uk/st-george-day

in which we discover that among other things a stone over the south door at Fordington records “a miraculous appearance of St George to lead crusaders into battle”.

and here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_George’s_Day_in_England

where we learn that in England traditional activities on Saint George’s Day included: the wearing of a red rose; Morris Dancing; the Mummers’ Play; brass bands; a hog roast; falconry displays, and medieval jousting, and in which we also learn that Sir Robert Baden Powell chose Saint George to watch over the Scouting movement.

His legend (I am drawing from the useful “timeanddate” link above) states that “he was born some time around the year 280 AD in what is now Turkey but was then part of the Eastern Roman Empire.  He was a soldier and rose up through the ranks of the Roman army, eventually becoming a personal guard to the Emperor Diocletian. He was executed for his Christian faith on April 23, 303 AD, and is buried in the town of Lod, in eretz Israel.

‘St George is most widely known for slaying a dragon. According to legend, the only well in the town of Silene was guarded by a dragon.  In order to get water, the inhabitants of the town had to offer a human sacrifice every day to the dragon. The person to be sacrificed was chosen by lots. On the day that St George was visiting, a princess had been selected to be sacrificed.  However, he killed the dragon, saved the princess, and gave the people of Silene access to water.  In gratitude, they converted to Christianity. It is thought that the dragon represents a certain type of pagan belief that  included the sacrifice of human beings.”

Hmm.  And such things are not merely a memory from the dark and distant past; I’m sure we can all think of a belief system now current and rampant that has been ritually murdering large numbers of human beings in many parts of the world, but most notably, of late, in Garissa in Kenya, in Syria, and in Libya…Perhaps there is a good reason why the veneration of Saint George became particularly prominent among western Christians, such as the English, around the time of the Crusades, when they went – however belatedly and haphazardly – to the aid of their Eastern brethren, assailed and oppressed by Islam.

And so to our interlude.

First, a clip of “Jerusalem”, Parry’s setting of the poem by William Blake, a hymn which was – it appears – popular for church services on St George’s Day.   St George himself, as imagined by various artists, features in some of the accompanying artwork and photographs.

And secondly, G K Chesterton’s “O God of Earth and Altar”, written in 1915, but which reads as though it were written for today’s Britain; especially the second verse, which runs, “From all that terror teaches/ From lies of tongue and pen/ from all the easy speeches/ that comfort cruel men/ From sale and profanation/ of honour and the sword/ From sleep, and from damnation/ deliver us, good Lord.”