ST. GEORGE'S DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 793, 16 April 1910, Page 3

ST. GEORGE'S DAY.

. Sir,—lt is true that St. "George's Day is a bank holiday, but, unlike St. Patrick s- Day, it' is not a public holiday. Why-St. ■Patrick of' blessed memory should be honoured with a public holiday and St. George of Merrie England , simply passed over is hard to say. We are all familiar with the fact that St. George is the Patron Saint of England, of which nation we are a part, and most of us will find it easy to look up some account of his life. Dr. Hermitage Day, in a sermon he-preached last year on tho Festival of St. George, says:— "Not many years ago April 23 passed without observance, save as the day ; on which Shakespeare was born and died. England had almost forgotten that St. G-eorge is. her Patron Saint. To-day the ■memory of Englishmen is quickened. Here and there Christian folk meet to thank God for the example of His glorious martyr, their patron. Once again his banner 'is borne in procession—his flag floats from our church towers—the devotion of England to her Patron Saint in the Ages of Faith is recallod." St. George reminds ns of England and her greatness. -In the thirteenth.century, the Red Cross of St. George was displayed upon tho loyal banner of the English kings, and to-day tho Union Jack, the national flag of Great Britain and Ireland, consists of a union of the crossss of St. Geprgo, St. Patrick, and St. Andrew. To quote Dr. Hermitage Day again:—

"Towards the end of the fourteenth century the soldiers of England were commanded to tear a sign, of the arras of St. George.' Guilds, both parochial and craft, were named nfter him, as in London the Fraternity of Armourers. Pageants and processions wore- incomplete without the knight nnd the vanquished dragon. The shipmeii of the.port of '■London, bore Ms oross as they set forth to their conquest of arms and of commerce. 'St. George for Merrie England', was'the rallying cry of Englishmen on many a hard-fought field." ; But the name of St. George stands for a true Nationalism, and tells us that we have a share in keeping up the great name of England. "The temper of the nation is tho temper of the individuals comprising it, to which : each makes his •contribution, for good or iU." Might ire not say that a iuitione! holiday on St. Gwrpfi's Pay inOTir© i-h© rv'nfsv" gernsration of this courrtrv with a ereawrj love for dear Dlff'SoiJflMl- <um na tua means of a greater, knowledge of : her glorious past.—l am, etc., ANGLICAN. April 9, 1910.