Saints of the Day & More

He was born near Normandy, France, where he was made a knight in the First Crusade. The stories given for his patronage of boaters vary. Some state that he was captured by Muslims in The Crusade, and escaped persecution by swimming. Additional legends state that it was in fact angels who freed him from his captors, and his association with the seas came when he calmed a whirlpool by throwing Holy water, and the chains of his captivity into it, and signing the cross. He returned to France and entered the abbey of Tiron. There he became a recluse, remaining recollected until his death of April 30.

The life of St George is popular in Europe during the Middle Ages, thanks to a rather "sober" in their reporting. According to legend, the saint was a Christian knight who seriously injured a swamp dragon that terrorized the inhabitants of a small town. The people seized with fear was about to flee, when St. George said he had only to believe in Jesus Christ for the dragon died. The king and his subjects became the point and the monster died. By then broke the cruel persecution of Diocletian and Maximian, the saint then began to encourage those who hesitate in the faith, for which he received cruel punishment and torture, but all in vain. The emperor ordered the beheading of the saint, a sentence that was carried out without difficulty, but when Diocletian returned from the execution site was consumed by fire down from heaven. This popular version of the saint's life, which actually leads to St. George was truly a martyr Diospolis (ie Lydda) in Palestine, probably before ...