Who was Saint George and is the famous dragon slayer legend true? – The US sun

St. George’s Day is celebrated annually on April 23rd around the world – including in England.

England’s patron saint, George, slew a dragon to save a village, but how much of the legend is really true?

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Who was Saint George and when was he born?

Saint George would probably have been a soldier somewhere in the Eastern Roman Empire, perhaps in what is now Turkey.

He is also the patron saint of Ethiopia, Georgia and Portugal, as well as cities like Freiburg, Moscow and Beirut.

Saint George was born between AD 256-285 and died on April 23, 303.

George was canonized by Pope Gelasius in AD 494 and invoked protection as part of the fourteen auxiliary saints during the Middle Ages.

Since his exact date of birth has never been determined, it is unclear how old the saint was when he died.

It is likely that the dragon-slaying hero never actually set foot in England.

St. George’s Day is now also celebrated in Vatican City in honor of Pope Francis, whose real name is Jorge (George) Mario Bergoglio.

Why is he the patron saint of England?

Despite the fact that he probably never visited the country, stories of his courage and bravery managed to find their way back to those who lived in England.

According to historian Ian Mortimer, a country’s patron saint did not have to be born there.

They simply had to share the qualities that the kingdom wanted to show the rest of the world.

King Edward III made him the patron saint of England when he created the Order of the Garter in his name in 1350.

In England, St. George’s Day is celebrated on April 23rd.

What is true about the famous legend of Saint George and the Dragon?

The story may have started simply to symbolize the triumph of good over evil.

But most of the known history goes back to the Golden Legend – a popular collection of 13th-century lives of saints.

According to one version of the story, a town in Libya had a small lake inhabited by a dragon infected with the plague.

Many of the townspeople were killed by the dragon, so they started feeding him two sheep a day to appease him.

When the town ran out of sheep, legend has it that the king devised a lottery system to feed the area’s hungry dragon children instead.

But one day his own daughter was chosen, and as she was being led down to the lake, Saint George happened to be riding by.

The story goes that George offered to slay the dragon, but only if the people converted to Christianity.

They did and the king later built a church where the dragon was killed.

But the famous story is just a myth.