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The Daily News. THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 1913. ST. GEORGE'S DAY.

Of the making of holidays, like the making of books, there is 110 end, and really the English-speaking world, especially in the colonies, loses no opportunity of taking a day off. Yesterday the banks were all closed, much to the dismay of many country settlers and townspeople who had business to transact. Enquiry elicited the fact that it was St. George's and St. David's Day, according to the bank formula, the patron saint of Wales having been coupled with the patron saint of England for holiday purposes, presumably so that an irate public should not arise in its wrath and stone these gods if their anniversaries were separately celebrated. Of course, the average man knows a good deal more about Guy Fawkes and St. Valentine than lie does about St. George or St. David, and the perpetuation of the memories of these gentlemen, eminently respectable as they no doubt were, does not appeal to the man who has a cheque to cash or money to bank, and who has grown so weary in the celebration of anniversaries that he has forgotten even his own -birthday. But it is, under the circumstances, just as well to record who this gentleman who annually closes our banks so autocratically really was, and what he did, besides fighting a dragon in a twenty-round fight, which is about the only episode in his career that is common property in the average I man's stock of historical information. | St. George, according to Metaphrastes, j the Byzantine hagiolist, whose narrative | is substantially repeated in the Roman [ "Acta Sanctorum" and in the Spanish breviary, was born in Cappadocia of noble Christian parents, from whom he received a careful religious training. Having embraced the profession of a soldier, he rapidly rose under Diocletian to high military rank. When that emperor had begun to manifest a pronounced hostility towards Christianity George sought a personal interview with him, in which he made a deliberate profession of faith, and, earnestly remonstrating against the persecution which had begun, resigned his commission. lie was immediately laid under arrest, and, after various tortures, finally put to | death at Xicomedia (or, according to | other accounts, at Lydda) on April 23, 303. Evidently the newspaper men made ■ much of the details of the martyrdom, j for the churches refused to accept the story in full. 111 the year 494 George was mentioned among the martyrs whom the church venerated, but whose gesta it did not read. These words implied that even at tliat date much had been written about him, but little that the church could accept as trustworthy. This fifth century caution was apparently not long observed, for Gregory of Tours asserts that his relics actually existed in the French village of Le Maine, where many miracles were wrought by means of them; and the Venerable Bede, while still explaining that the gesta of St. George was reckoned apocryphal, commits himself to the statement that the martyr was beheaded under Dacian, King of Persia, whose wife, Alexandra, however, adhered to the Christian faith. The dragon was a still later introduction into the legend, which, as given by ■Jacobus de Voragine and other writers, ceased to represent the hero as in any sense a sufferer. 111 its current popular form the story of his successful conflict with the dragon is probably a mere modification of the old Aryan myth. The, popularity of the name of St. George in England dates from the day on which Richard Coeur de Leon invoiced his aid in the First Crusade. But it was not till the reign of Edward 111. that he was patron saint of the kingdom, although at the Council of Oxford in 1222 it had already been ordered that his feast should be kept as a national festival. This, of coarse, is all very well, and very interesting reading, but it does not assist the man from out back to discount a promissory note or buy clothing for the children. We have no doubt that St. George was a most estimable citizen and that he did a whole lot of things for the benefit of himself and the country, but ''there have been others." If we are to follow this precedent we can find a whole lot of people who ought to he commemorated. We might have a St. Joseph Ward or a St. Massey Day, anil we should ultimately be faced with the position of the banks closing for holiday 011 3(15 days and a quarter annually and remaining open for the balance fii the year. This might not he an unmixed blessing. In its more modified form, however, it is a grave inconvenience. In the meantime the banks might very well celebrate the occasion by flying a flag, leaving their doors open for the convenience of customers who are anxious to "fly kites."

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19130424.2.11

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 285, 24 April 1913, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
817

The Daily News. THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 1913. ST. GEORGE'S DAY. Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 285, 24 April 1913, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 1913. ST. GEORGE'S DAY. Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 285, 24 April 1913, Page 4

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