RUBERY has been holding a whole week of events to celebrate St George’s Day.
Pupils from Beaconside Primary and Holywell First Schools and Lilliput Day Nursery prepared artwork to reflect the story of St George and the Dragon.
The paintings have been displayed in many of the shop windows in the village.
A coffee morning with musical entertainment was held for a large number of senior citizens at St Chad’s Church on Friday and nearly 100 guests attended a St George’s Day Dinner and Cabaret on Saturday evening.
St George’s Society spokesman John Chatwin said: “Our objective to encourage our community to celebrate our national saint’s day was achieved successfully again this year.”
The Rubery St George’s Society has also provided us with the story and some fun facts about England’s patron saint.
The story of St George
- A town in Libya was terrorised by a dragon who was killing all their sheep.
- A young princess was offered as a sacrifice to the dragon.
- When George heard about this he rode to the village.
- George slayed the dragon and saved the princess.
- Although the dragon’s scales were hard, he killed it by piercing it under the wing with his sword where there were no scales and the flesh was soft.
Some facts about St George
1. He was born in Turkey, in Cappadocia
2. He lived in the 3rd century
3. His parents were Christian
4. He became a Roman soldier
5. He protested against Rome’s persecution of Christians
6. He was imprisoned and tortured, but stayed true to his faith
7. He was beheaded at Lydda in Palestine
And some more about England’s patron saint
St George is believed to have been born in the year AD270 in Cappadocia (now eastern Turkey). He was a Christian. At the age of 17 he joined the Roman army and soon became renowned for his bravery.
He served under Diocletian, a pagan Roman Emperor, but never forgot his Christian faith.
When Diocletian started persecuting Christians, St George pleaded with the Emperor to spare their lives.
However St George’s pleas fell on deaf ears and it is thought that Diocletian tried to make St George deny his faith in Christ, by torturing him.
St George showed incredible courage and faith and was finally beheaded near Lydda in Palestine on April 23, 303.
In 1222, the Council of Oxford declared April 23 to be St George’s Day. He replaced St Edmund the Martyr as England’s patron saint in the 14th century.
In 1415, April 23 was made a national feast day.
St George is also the patron saint of Aragon and Catalonia in Spain, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Romania and Russia
