Statuette of St. George (Munich Residence Treasury)
The statuette was made to house a relic of St George that Archbishop Ernst of Cologne sent in 1586 to his brother Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria.
In the seventeenth century, the statuette was displayed on important feast days on the altar of the Ornate Chapel in the Munich Residence.
The bearded face of the saint behind the movable visor is carved from boxwood and resembles that of the man who commissioned the statuette, Duke Wilhelm V.
"St. George and the Pterodactyl" by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, 1873, to illustrate his theory that legends of dragons may have been inspired by encounters with living pterosaurs.
The presence of the octopus is less easy to explain.
Then St. George said to the executioners, “Come and finish off what you were commanded to do.” And kneeling, the servant of God was peacefully beheaded, and water and milk came forth from his body.
-Passecrates, Passio Sancti Georgii 5th Century
St. Georgios of Lydda was born in the year 269 in Cappadocia. His father died early, and he was raised on a farm in Lydda by his mother. Distinguished by his education and physical advantages, he was readily admitted into the Roman army, where he soon obtained the rank of Tribune. As a soldier, he gave many proofs of his valor and military skill, so that Diocletian, not knowing that he was a Christian, advanced him to a high place of dignity in the Imperial Court, then held at Nicomedia.
It seems that when Diocletian became Emperor, the Oracle of Apollo could no longer foretell the future on account of a new generation. When the Emperor asked who were those men of whom Apollo made complaint, the oracles declared that the Christians were to be both hated and feared on account of their sacrilege. Diocletian resolved to let the Christians feel the full weight of his anger. He published an edict threatening death to all who should not at once abandon the Christian faith within his province, and he requested the Senate to approve the extension of this edict to the whole Roman Empire, east and west.
Georgio, Tribune of Cappadocia, devoted to the faith and unable to endure this intolerable tyranny, tore down the edict from the gates of Cappadocia. Foreseeing the consequences of his own open confession of faith, he addressed Diocletian and the Senate directly, asking:
“How long, most noble Emperor, and you, Conscript Fathers, will you continue to increase your tyrannies against the Christians?
How long will you persist in enacting cruel and unjust laws against them, endeavoring to compel those who are properly peaceful and true to follow a religion of which you yourselves are doubtful?
Be no longer deceived by your errors. Either acknowledge the Lord Christ, or at least refrain from disturbing, by your furious folly, those who willingly embrace him.”
Overcome with amazement at the Tribune’s manly and outspoken courage, the Senators remained silent. Diocletian, unwilling to lose a man of such sterling worth, interposed with a promise not only of pardon but also of promotion—if only the farmer-made-Tribune would renounce Christ. Yet if the offer would be refused Diocletian made a promise of torments and death.
On the following day, Diocletian returned to Georgio and ask him as to whether he still persisted in believing in the supremacy of the cult of Christ. Tribune Georgios resolutely answered:
“You will sooner grow tired of tormenting me than I will of enduring your tortures.”
Despairing now of shaking his constancy either by promises or threats, Diocletian placed him upon a wheel barbed with sharp knives; but though his body was covered with wounds, he endured his torments with Christian fortitude. Many who were present declared afterwards that they saw a man clad in white, comforting the martyr during his agony. Next, he was shut within a lime kiln, exposed to burning heat for three days. Afterwards, they forced him to wear a pair of iron shoes, heated and turned inward with nails. Next he was scourged and buffeted before being led back to his prison cell.
Having refused to concede, he was sentenced to death. He was permitted to see his trusted servant, Pascicrates, who afterwards left a manuscript in Greek recording the sufferings of his master. St. George earnestly besought Pascicrates to procure that, after his execution, his remains should be interred in Lydda, in Palestine, where he had formerly dwelt with his mother.
Georgios was unceremoniously beheaded, as was fitting for a Tribune of the Romans, in the Imperial city of Nicomedia on Friday, April 23rd, in the year 290, when he had just reached his twenty-first year of age. Pascicrates faithfully carried out the martyr’s wishes and reverently buried his remains at Lydda, the land of his mother.
Above is an edited translated section from Symeon Metaphrastes' “Life of Saint George” 10th Century
