George comes from geos, earth, and orge, to work, that is, one who works the earth, namely, his own flesh. But Saint Augustine writes in his book Of the Holy Trinity, that good earth is found on the summit of mountains, on the hills, and in the plains; the first bears good grass, the second, grapes, and the third, the fruits of, the fields. So too, Saint George was on the heights, for he disdained base things and had the fresh green of purity; he was temperate by his prudence, and thus was permitted to share in the wine of heavenly joy; he was lowly in his humility, and therefore was clothed with the fruits of good deeds. Or, George comes from gerar, holy, and gyon, battle, a holy warrior, for he fought with the dragon and with the executioner. Or, George comes from gerar, sacred, and gyon, sand, holy sand. He was like unto sand for he was heavy through his great virtue; ground small through his humility; dry, in his abstinence from the temptations of the flesh. Or, George comes from gero, pilgrim, gir, precious, and ys, counselor: for he was a pilgrim in his contempt for the world, precious because of his crown of martyrdom, a counselor in his preaching of the Kingdom. At the Council of Nicaea, his legend was placed among the apocryphal books, for there was no certain account of his martyrdom. In the Calendar of the Venerable Bede we read that he was martyred in Persia in the city of Diospolis; elsewhere it is said that he is buried in Diospolis, formerly called Lidda, near Joppe. We also read that he suffered under Diocletian and Maximian, the emperors; or, under the Persian emperor Dacianus in the presence of seventy of his kings. Here we read how he was tortured by the prefect Dacianus under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian.

George was a native of Cappadocia, and served in the Roman army, with the rank of tribune. A chance journey took him one day into the neighborhood of Silena, a town in the province of Libya. In this town, in a deep lake as large as an ocean, there dwelt a horrible dragon, who many times had put to flight the men who came armed against him, and who was wont to prowl about the city walls, poisoning all who came within the reach of his breath. In order to appease the fury of this monster, and to keep him from destroying the whole town, the burgesses had been offering him two sheep every day. But in time the number of sheep was so depleted that they were reduced to abandoning to him one sheep and one human being. The name of a youth or a maiden was drawn in a lottery, and no family was exempt from this lottery. And the day that Saint George reached the city, well-nigh all the young folk of the town had already been eaten up, and the lot for that day had fallen upon the only daughter of the king. Then this aged man, in the slough of his despair, had said: 'Take ye my gold and my silver, and the half of my kingdom, but give back my daughter, that she may be spared so dreadful a death!' But his people were exceeding wroth, and cried: 'Thou thyself, 0 King, hast uttered this decree; and now when on its account all our children have perished, thou wouldst save thine own daughter from the law! No! Let her perish like the rest, or else we shall burn thee alive, with all thy house!' At these words the king burst into tears, and said to his daughter: Alas, sweet child, what shall I do for thee? And shall it not be given to me to see thy wedding day ?' And after this, seeing that he still could not secure the safety of his daughter, he said to her: 'Alas, sweet daughter, I hoped to see kingly children feeding at thy breasts, and now thou thyself must leave me, to be fodder for this horrid dragon! Alas, alas, my sweet child, I hoped to invite all the nobles of the land to thy wedding, and to adorn my palace with pearls, and to hear the joyous music of trumpets and tambours; and now instead must I despatch thee to the dragon to be devoured!' And he dismissed her with a last word: 'Woe is me, my daughter, that I did not die before this day!' The damsel fell at her father's feet to receive his blessing; and then, quitting the town, she walked toward the lake where the dragon dwelt.

Saint George, passing that way, saw her all in tears, and asked her the cause of her trouble. And she replied: 'Good youth, get to horse and away with all speed, lest thou die the same death that awaits me!' 'Fear not, my child,' answered Saint George, 'but tell me wherefore thou weepest, beneath the eyes of the crowd that is gathered yonder upon the walls!' But she made answer: 'Gentle youth, I see that thou hast a great heart, and art minded to die with me: but I beg of thee, be off in all haste!' 'Not a step shall I take,' said Saint George, 'before I know what ails thee!' At this the damsel told him the whole tale, and Saint George said: 'My child, be without fear; for in the name of Christ I will succor thee!' But again she pleaded: 'Brave knight, make haste to save thyself, lest thou likewise come to naught! Suffice it that I die!'

While they were in speech, the dragon reared his head out of the lake. All atremble, the maiden cried: 'Away, sweet lord, away with all speed!' But George, mounting his horse and arming himself with the sign of the cross, set bravely upon the dragon as he came toward him; and with a prayer to God he brandished his sword, and dealt the monster a hurt that threw him to the ground. And the saint said to the damsel: 'Fear naught, my child, and throw thy girdle about the dragon's neck!' Thus she did, and the dragon, setting himself erect, followed her like a little dog on a leash.

But when the people of the city saw him drawing near, they fled in panic up to the hills and into the caves, certain that they were all about to be devoured. Saint George signed to them to come back, and said to them: 'Ye have naught to fear, for the Lord has appointed me to deliver you from the crimes of this monster! Believe in Christ, be baptized, and I shall slay the beast that persecuted you!' Then the king and all his people were baptized; on that day twenty thousand men, and a multitude of women and children, received baptism. And Saint George, drawing his sword, slew the dragon, who was carried out of the city upon a car drawn by four yoke of oxen. And the king caused a great church to be built in honor of the Blessed Virgin and Saint George, and from within there flowed a spring whose waters cured all languors. And the king offered a very large sum of money to Saint George; but he, taking nothing for himself, gave all to the poor. And then he taught the king four things. He taught him to care for the church of God, to honor the priests, to assist with devotion at the divine office, and to have the poor always in mind. And at last he embraced the aged king and took leave of him.

Other authors, however, tell this story in a different way. They say at the very moment when the dragon drew nigh to devour the maiden, Saint George, making the sign of the cross, set upon him and slew him with one blow.

At this time, in the reign of Diocletian and Maximian, the prefect Dacian loosed against the Christians a persecution so violent that within a month seventeen thousand had won the crown of martyrdom, while others, weary of their torments, yielded and consented to worship the idols. Seeing this, Saint George, beside himself with grief, forsook all his goods, laid aside his soldier's trappings for the garb of the Christians, and rushed into the public square, crying: 'All your gods are but demons, and our God alone is the Creator of the heavens and the earth!' In a rage, the prefect challenged him: 'How darest thou, rash fellow, to blaspheme against our gods? Who art thou, and whence?' Saint George answered: 'I am called George, I come of a noble family of Cappadocia, and with the help of my God I have followed the wars in Palestine; but now I have abandoned all to serve the God of Heaven more freely!' Then the prefect, not availing to daunt him, had him stretched upon a rack, and ordered his members to be torn, one after the other, with iron hooks. His body was likewise burnt with lighted torches, and the wounds from out of which his vitals started were rubbed with salt. But in the night that followed, Our Lord appeared to Saint George in the midst of a great light, and so sweetly comforted him with His presence and His words that all his hurts were assuaged. And when Dacian saw that tortures had no power over him, he sent for his magician, and said to him: 'These Christians have some witchery which allays their torments and gives them indomitable strength of will.' And the magician answered: 'If I fail to conquer George's spells, I agree that thou mayest put me to death!' Thereupon, after invoking his gods, he poured poison into a cup of wine, and gave it to George to drink; but he made the sign of the cross and drank, and suffered no ill. The sorcerer then put a stronger dose of poison into the wine: and again the saint made the sign of the cross, drank, and suffered no ill. Seeing which, the magician fell down before his feet, tearfully sued for his forgiveness, and asked to become a Christian: and within a short time the prefect had him beheaded. Saint George was then bound to a wheel which was fitted on all sides with two-edged swords; but the wheel fell apart at the first turn, and Saint George remained unharmed. Dacian then commanded that he be plunged into a cauldron of molten lead; but he made the sign of the cross, and felt no more than the touch of a soothing bath.

Then Dacian, perceiving how unavailing threats and tortures were, thought to weaken him by flattery, and said to him: 'Thou seest, my good George, how long-suffering are our gods, that they beat patiently with thy blasphemies, and yet are ready to visit thee with their favor at the first sign of repentance! Follow my counsel, then, brave youth! Have done with thy superstition, and offer sacrifice to our gods, that thou mayest have great rewards of them and of us!' And Saint George smiled, and said: 'Ah! Why didst thou not speak thus to me in the beginning, instead of seeking to overcome me with torments? So be it! I am ready to obey thy cousels!' Dacian, delighted with this promise, had the trumpets sounded, and proclaimed that all the people were to gather at the temple, where George, after long resistance, was about to worship the gods. The whole city was garlanded as for a festival, and thousands of people milled about the temple. And George, the moment he entered therein, knelt and prayed to God to destroy the temple and its idols forthwith. And instantly a fire fell from Heaven and consumed the temple, the idols, and the priests, and the earth opened and swallowed up the remains.

Saint Ambrose makes reference to this miracle when he says: 'At a time when Christianity was a hidden thing, George, the staunch soldier of Christ, alone dared to profess his faith in the Son of God before all the people. And the grace of God, in return, gave him such fortitude that he braved a thousand menaces and a thousand tortures. 0 blessed and venerable warrior of God! And riot only would he not be cozened by the proffer of earthly power, but, making game of his persecutor, he destroyed the temple with all its false gods!' Thus spoke Ambrose.

In this circumstance, Dacian again confronted George, and said to him: 'By what arts, miscreant, hast thou dared to commit such a crime?" And George retorted: '0 King, thou art mistaken! Come with me to another temple, and in thy sight I shall worship the idols!' 'Ha!' he replied, 'I divine thy ruse! Thou wouldst put an end to me, as thou hast done already to my temple and my gods!' 'But, miserable man,' said George, 'if thy gods are powerless to help themselves, how can they help others?' Beside himself with anger, Dacian said to his wife: 'I shall die of discomfiture, for this man is stronger than I!' But she responded: 'Bloody tyrant, did I not conjure thee to persecute the Christians no more, because their God fought at their side? Know now that 1 too am about to become a Christian!' Astounded, Dacian cried: 'What! Even thou hast fallen under their spell!' And he had her hung by the hair and beaten with rods. And while they were beating her, she said to George: 'George, what thinkest thou will become of me, who am about to die without being reborn in the waters of baptism?' And George made answer: 'Doubt not, my daughter, that the outpouring of thy blood will be thy Baptism, and will merit thee eternal glory!' Then Alexandria, having besought the Lord, breathed her last.

This is attested by Saint Ambrose in his Preface, who adds: 'For this reason, the queen of the pagan Persians was also shown mercy and received the palm of martyrdom when her cruel husband had condemned her to death, although she had not yet been baptized; we may not doubt that she, crimson with the dew of her blood, was permitted to enter the portal of Heaven, and to possess eternal glory.

The next day Dacian commanded George to be dragged through the length and breadth of the city, and then beheaded. And the saint prayed to God that whoever should implore his help might have his vow fulfilled; and a heavenly voice was heard saying that this prayer was granted. Then, his prayer finished, Saint George was beheaded. This occurred in the year 287. As for Dacian, as he was leaving the place of execution to return to his palace, the fire of Heaven fell upon him and consumed him and his ministers.

Gregory of Tours relates that certain monks were bearing with them the relics of Saint George, when they halted before a certain chapel; and they could not lift the casket containing the relics until they had deposited some of them in this chapel. We read in the History of Antioch that during the Crusades, when the Christian hosts were about to lay siege to Jerusalem, a passing fair young man appeared to a priest. He told him that he was Saint George, the captain of the Christian armies; and that if the crusaders carried his relics to Jerusalem, he would be with them. And when the Crusaders, during the siege of Jerusalem, feared to scale the walls because of the Saracens who were mounted thereon, Saint George appeared to them, accoutred in white armor adorned with the red cross. He signed to them to follow him without fear in the assault of the walls: and they, encouraged by his leadership, repulsed the Saracens and took the city.