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Question: Why is Saint George the patron saint of Portugal?
The subject came up at work, I don't know how it started but no one seems to know a whole lot about it. Something was mentioned about Saint George and the Matacão. Whatever that means? I did some research and found the story of Saint George Slaying the dragon. But no stories of how he is the "Patron Saint of Portugal"! Or any relationship to the Matacão. edit:spelling
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St. George was apparently a basic template for Chilvaric knights in the middle ages, so my guess is that a Chilvary inspired king of Portugal made him their knightly saint.
PS. He is one of 6 or 7 Saints of Portugal.
He is also the Saint of others places, including Moscow. Between Moscow and Portugal, he has the entire continent surrounded.
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Oddly enough, St. George is the patron saint of the Catholic Church in the little hillside village of San Roberto in Calabria (toe of the boot in Italy). I'm not sure how this came to be, but my family is from there, so when I visited I was shown the odd little statue of St. George slaying the dragon that sits in the vestibule of the church.
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I think the origional St. George was actually from Turkey or Armenia and his story spread through the Christian world from there.
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Actually, between Moscow and Portugal, he's only got the continent flanked. He'd need at least one or two more positions to count as having it "surrounded"
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St. George is the patron saint of England as well.
quote: St George is still venerated in a large number of places, by followers of particular occupations and sufferers from certain diseases. George is the patron saint of Aragon, Catalonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Germany and Greece; and of Moscow, Istanbul, Genoa and Venice (second to St Mark). He is patron of soldiers, cavalry and chivalry; of farmers and field workers, Boy Scouts and butchers; of horses, riders and saddlers; and of sufferers from leprosy, plague and syphilis. He is particularly the patron saint of archers, which gives special point to these famous lines from Shakespeare's Henry V, Act 3, Scene 1, l. 31:
'I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, Straining upon the start. The game's afoot: Follow your spirit; and, upon this charge Cry God for Harry, England and St George!'.
Indirectly, the spirit of George the soldier saint played a part in modern English history when Sir Laurence Olivier's film of Henry V was issued in 1944 as an encouragement to our armies fighting for the liberation of France.
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