Dragon Slayer

Day Two of our Roman pilgrimage, we go to the church of the original dragon slayer, Saint George, a soldier in Cappadocia (Turkey) who rose through the ranks of the Roman military but recognized that the ultimate battlefield was to be met in his laying down his life for the faith. Like the account of his combat with the dragon, which had made its lair in a marshy swamp, the site for his church was once a marsh off the banks of the Tiber, but by the 400's an early church (especially so considering Christianity was only legal from AD 313) had already been built. Pope Saint Gregory the Great established a 'diaconia' here, a site to care for the poor, and then Pope Saint Leo (682-683) restored the basilica and dedicated it to Saint Sebastian--who is depicted with Saint George, as well as various other folks like Jesus and Mary in the apse over the altar. Pope Saint Zachary (741-752), from Turkey himself, brought the head of Saint George from the Lateran (where the popes lived) and added him as a co-patron.


Photo courtesy of Fr. David Barrett

The image over the altar shows Saint George with his well known white banner and red cross, which becomes the base for the Union Jack, since he's the patron saint of England.

Afterwards, as with the day before, several of us geniuses (or the not yet awake) stopped in a coffee shop for a morning cappuccino and conversation on what had become a sun-filled day.