Article: Saint George for England. (choice of patron saint is based on myth)

On the twenty-third of April some Englishmen will wear a red rose and others will toast the memory of England's patron saint. Why the English chose St George as their patron saint has long been a puzzle. There is no evidence that St George ever left the Orient, much less travelled as far west as the British Isles, yet his fervent adoption by the English rivalled even that of the Greeks who were the first to call him megalomartyr. His popularity was spread in the west by returning crusaders. Innumerable institutions and communities large and small made him their patron saint. Under his flag, Venetians and Genoese built commercial empires, Portugal fought for independence, the ...

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