Raphael, St. George Fighting the Dragon, 1505;
Oil on wood, 12 x 10 1/4 in (30 x 26 cm); Musée du Louvre, Paris
The Daily Mail reports that
His dragon-slaying heroics have kept his legend alive through the centuries.
But the Church of England is considering rejecting England’s patron saint St George on the grounds that his image is too warlike and may offend Muslims.
Clergy have started a campaign to replace George with St Alban, a Christian martyr in Roman Britain.
The scheme, to be considered by the Church’s parliament, the General Synod, has met a cautious but sympathetic response from senior bishops.
The Reformation-era practice of burning major English clerics at the stake for heresy was clearly allowed to go out of fashion much, much too soon.
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We Lithuanians liked St. George as well. When I was a boy I attended St. George Lithuanian Parish Elementary School, and served mass at St. George Lithuanian Roman Catholic Church in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. I would have used a picture of the statue of St. George from my boyhood church, but, alas! I couldn’t find a usable photo in the parish histories.
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