St Peter’s Anglican Church

St George - April 23

Martyr, Patron Saint of England

The beginnings of the story of St George appear to lie in the region of Lydda, a town on the coast of Palestine, where a certain George was martyred about 304. That would make him one of the victims of the attack upon Christians made by the emperor Diocletian in the last and most severe period of persecution before the Christian faith was recognised by the state. Little else is known for sure about George. He was possibly a soldier. His name occurs in many of the early lists of martyrs, and his cult became widespread in the church. He was known in England by the seventh and eighth centuries, though the process by which he became patron saint of England is by no means clear...
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