Strangely enough, our English patron saint, St. George, was not English, and he probably never visited Britain. St. George was born in Turkey around the year 303.He was a Christian, and, as an adult, he became a knight who would have made King Arthur proud. According to an ancient myth, George was travelling in the Middle East when he rescued a princess who was about to be eaten by a dragon. Perhaps the beast George killed was a crocodile, or perhaps the dragon symbolised some evil power, but the story fired the imaginations of the mediaeval crusaders. King Edward III founded the Order of the Garter with St. George as its patron saint and soon George was the patron saint of England.
St. George's Day has been April 23rd since the 13th century. England's most famous citizen, William Shakespeare, died at Stratford-on-Avon on April 23rd in 1616.During his 52 years, Shakespeare wrote 38 plays and many poems, the Sonnets. He was a master of humour, history, tragedy, drama, suspense and romance, and if you visit the Globe Theatre in London you can see his plays being staged much as they would have been in Elizabethan times. The plays are set in many different places in England and abroad; they have been translated into dozens of languages and performed in hundreds of cities around the world.
England is fortunate to have such a rich, cultural heritage. The travels of our ancestors and the immigration of Vikings, Danes, Normans, Dutch and many other nationalities through the centuries have made us as we are, shaped our language, formed our laws and our government and influenced our beliefs.
During Eastertide Christians thank God for the resurrection of Jesus, who came into our world to draw the people of all nations into his one heavenly kingdom.
May the risen Christ bless you and be your inspiration,
Ann