BRITISH CHURCH

THE MYSTERIOUS IDENTITY OF SAINT GEORGE
by Laurence Gardner

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The Mysterious Identity of Saint George by Laurence Gardner

Introduction

Unlike the patron saints, Andrew of Scotland, David of Wales and Patrick of Ireland, who are all historically recognizable figures, St George of England is a patron saint with no immediately apparent historical provenance. Apart from what seems to begin with 5th-century folklore, most reference books relate that there are no contemporary or other historical documents relating to St George. Under such circumstances, it is rather odd that George became not only the patron saint of England, but also of numerous other countries, orders and occupations. The most perplexing anomaly is that, although George rose to prominence in the saintly ranks, he was originally deemed personally unsuitable by the Vatican, and the written accounts of his life were proscribed by Pope Gelasius in AD 496. But why would Gelasius have denounced George as a known individual if he were mythical as so often supposed? Clearly, there was an aspect of George’s character of which the Church did not approve – an aspect that was subsequently veiled and conveniently forgotten as the centuries passed. In this regard, the literature concerning the saint identifies an evolutionary strategy of character manipulation through more than 1,000 years. This ongoing creation of an acceptable heritage for George actually led to the emergence of an entirely mythical figure, in the course of which the real history of the man was lost.

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The Mysterious Identity of Saint George by Laurence Gardner

Laurence Gardner website - www.graal.co.uk

British Church Index