ST. GEORGE FOR PEACE

IT has been suggested that our Peace Appeal to Catholics of all nations should be put under the patronage of the patron saints of the nations. On the eve of the feast of St. George this is a timely suggestion for English Catholics.
The following is a list of patron saints which is not, however, exhaustive.
Australia : St. Francis Xavier.
Austria : Our Lady.
Belgium : St. Joseph.
Brazil : The Holy Cross. Borneo : St. Francis Xavier.
Canada: St. Anne and St. George.
The Congo: Our Lady. Czechoslovakia : St. Wencelas, Chili : St. James.
Denmark : St. Anscar.
East Indies : St. Thomas, Apostle.
Ecuador : The Sacred Heart.
Finland : St. Henry of Upsala.
France : St. Denis.
Germany: St. Michael.
Greece : St. George.
Holland: St. Willibrod.
Hungary: St. Stephen. Ireland: St. Patrick.
Italy: Various.
Mexico : Our Lady of Guadeloupe. Norway: St. Olaf.
Poland: St. Stanislaus, of Cracow.
Portugal : St. George. Russia: St. Andrew.
Scotland: St. Andrew.
Sweden : St. Birgitta. Spain : St. James.
South America: St. Rose, of Lima.
U.S.A.: The Immaculate Conception. WHAT OF ST. GEORGE?
Of our own patron, who is also the pan own,
of Portugal and Greece, little is
k This is what Fr. Martindale wrote of him in his " What Are Saints?" series:
"St. George attracted to himself the most astounding collection of legends; in fact both in east and west he was almost more popular than any Saint of the sort. But at first it was his exceptionally savage martyrdom that was concentrated on, hi what is considered a " comparatively mild " version of his Acts, we find that he is beaten with clubs; tortured with red-hot irons; given poison to drink; crushed between two spiked wheels; boiled in molten lead—all without. any effect.
" After that they cut off his head quite easily. The dragon, I am sorry to say, came in quite late—perhaps not before the twelfth century. Dragons are decorative, and the Knight in silver armour contrasted with the swirling scarlet dragon is a pleasing sight to contemplate and gives an artist enormous opportunities. But I fear that we must. content ourselves with being quite sure —as we may indeed be—that George was an oriental—probably a Palestinian— whose superlative courage during martyrdom impressed the imagination of his contemporaries more than many another did.
DRAGON STORIES
" His glory reached England long before the Norman Conquest; I cannot but expect, however, that it was the Crusaders, returning from the East, who gave a strong impetus to his cult, for it wan at its most splendid there. Only, I cannot quite see why the cult did not therefore " take on " similarly in other countries from which Crusaders came; perhaps they had a sufficiency of dragonstories already."