The Catholic Church today celebrates the feast of St George of Lydda – present Lod – a city southeast of Tel Aviv in the central district of Israel. It is chronicled that St George died on April 23, 303.

Stone sculpture of St George, perched on a garden wall in Sannat Road.

Devotion to the saint is worldwide but especially in the Holy Land, where the feast is celebrated in Palestine on May 6, according to the older calendar used by the Eastern Churches.

Devotion in Victoria

In Victoria, where I was brought up, I had to be especially devoted either to the parish of St George or to that of St Mary’s Assumption into Heaven. Gozo’s capital has always been patronised by ‘Ta’ l-Istilla’ (associated with St George’s parish) or ‘Ta’ l-Iljun’ (associated with St Mary’s parish).

As regards my family, my father (who was from Xewkija), one of my brothers and one of my sisters were drawn to St Mary’s parish while my mother (who was from Sannat) and another sister and brother were ‘Ġorġjani’.

The titular painting of St George at St George’s chapel, in Birżebbuġa.

I have, however, always tried to keep neutral. I had written a poem for St George’s feast in 1960 and, likewise, for the feast of the Assumption of Holy Mary, which falls on August 15. Both poems were published and also printed as ‘sunetti’ and distributed as flyers at the beginning of both processions.

However, during my upbringing in the then-called Sannat Road, there was a stone sculpture standing on a garden wall in front of the Dominican sisters’ convent, known as ‘St George Tal-Ħaġar’, watching over me each time I walked to school, or to the centre of Victoria and then back home.

And, at home, I treasured a pound sterling note with a brownish engraving of St George – always killing the dragon – which my father gave me when he learnt that I was collecting old unused paper money.

And, later on in Malta, where I settled with a family, Irma and I have often been to hear Sunday Mass at St George’s chapel, in Birżebbuġa.

A one pound sterling note featuring St George, patron saint of England. Photo: Joe Zammit Ciantar

The Boy Scouts Movement

St George Kills a Dragon, a sculpture by Anton Dominik Ritter von Fernkorn, in Zagreb. Photo: Joe Zammit Ciantar

When I became a member of the Salesian Boy Scouts, I always joined in the group’s participation on St George’s Day, celebrated on the Sunday preceding or following April 23. St George is the patron saint of the Scouts’ Movement founded by Lord Robert Baden Powell in 1908.

He is also patron saint of England, besides of soldiers, archers, cavalry and chivalry, farmers and field workers, riders and saddlers, and he helps those suffering from leprosy, plague and syphilis.

A prayer to St George

In a very recent post on his Facebook account, my friend and fellow Gozitan, Mgr Joseph Farrugia brought up my memories of being attracted to sculptures and paintings of the saint – depicted young and old – on a horse, slaying a dragon, as the allegoric legend narrates.

A wall painting of St George in the act of killing the dragon in a Greek Orthodox church dedicated to the saint in Madaba, Jordan. The church is well known for its 6th-century mosaic map of the Holy Land. Photo: Joe Zammit Ciantar

The author, in scout uniform on the right, standing by Sir Charles Maclean, chief scout of the Commonwealth. Crouching: his brother Anton. Photo: Joe Zammit Ciantar

In his tribute to the Royal Family for the loss of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, Mgr Farrugia, who is at present serving in the parish of Alleins – a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region of southern France – wrote on Facebook that, during the burial ceremony in the chapel of St George, the following prayer was recited:

“O Lord, who didst give to thy servant St George grace to lay aside the fear of man and to be faithful even unto death: Grant that we, unmindful of worldly honour, may fight the wrong, uphold thy rule and serve thee to our lives’ end; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Until some years ago, besides lecturing at the University of Malta, Mgr Farrugia was the parish priest of St George’s basilica, in Victoria. His fervour for the patron saint had – and seems to still have – no limits. In his chats with friends and tourists, St George was always a topic he would eagerly and enthusiastically bring up.

I remember how fondly and lovingly he ordered that St George’s basilica sacristy lights be switched on for the late honorary consul for Malta in Naples, Michele Di Gianni, to admire Mattia Preti’s painting of the saint hanging there.

The titular painting of St George’s basilica, Victoria, by Mattia Preti. Photo taken by Joe P. Borg for Matta Preti: Life and Works by Keith Sciberras, Midsea Books.

Some photos

It was this heartfelt post by Mgr Farrugia that moved me and reminded me of how I feel every time I find myself in front of a sculpture or a painting of the saint… and the dragon. Even though I might never be labelled as a ‘Ġorġjan’, there is a small space in my heart that reminds me I was brought up in Victoria, where I should have been part of one of the two parishes.

Wherever it is – in a square, in a church, or in a museum – I stop and capture the effigy or depiction of the saint on camera, as a ‘souvenir’.

Today, readers may relish some of these photos and enjoy them for both their artistic and holy appreciation. The effigies and depictions are representative of devotion, and – why not? – are also memorials of nobility and heroism.