A highly celebrated saint in both the Western and Eastern Christian churches, a large number of Patronages of Saint George exist throughout the world.
St. George is the patron saint of England. His cross forms the national flag of England, and features within the Union Flag of the United Kingdom, and other national flags containing the Union Flag, such as those of Australia and New Zealand. Traces of the cult of Saint George in England pre-date the Norman Conquest in the eleventh century; by the fourteenth century the saint had been declared both the patron saint and the protector of the royal family.
Saint George c. 275/281 – 23 April 303 CE), born in Lydda, Syria Palaestina, was a soldier in the Roman army and was later venerated as a Christian martyr. His father was Gerontius, a Greek Christian from Cappadocia, and an official in the Roman army; his mother Polychronia was a Christian from Lydda.[3] Saint George became an officer in the Roman army in the Guard of the Emperor Diocletian, who ordered his death for failing to repudiate his Christian faith.
In hagiography, Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic Church (Latin and Eastern), Anglican, Orthodox, East Syrian, and Miaphysite Churches. He is immortalized in the myth of Saint George and the Dragon and is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. His memorial, Saint George's Day, is traditionally celebrated on the Julian date of 23 April (currently the 6th of May according to the Gregorian Calendar), and he is regarded as one of the most prominent military saints. Many patronages of Saint George exist around the world, including countries and cities as well as the Scout Movement, in addition to a wide range of professions, organizations, and disease sufferers.