Its always struck me as rather odd that in England we should have St George as our patron Saint. Quite why a Roman soldier born in Syria should be adopted as patron saint of England is rather puzzling. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the Christian martyr George does not deserve to be a saint, I just don't understand why he was chosen to be our special saint.
A seemingly much more deserving candidate would be St Alban who we commerorate today in the Church Calendar. Alban is widely regarded as the first British Christian martyr having been executed for his faith in the third century. Alban was a Romano- British pagan living in Verulamium (modern St Albans) and he met a fugitive priest and gave him shelter in his home. Alban was so taken by the priest's way of life and his commitment to his faith that, in time, he converted to Christianity. When the Roman soldiers came looking for the fugitive priest Alban disguised himself in the priest's cloak and was arrested and condemned to death.
I have a particular fondness for St Alban as it was at the cathedral where he is buried in St Albans that I first started to attend church regularly. St Albans cathedral is a strange hotchpotch of a building having been heavily, and not very sympathetically, restored by the Victorians having fallen into disrepair following the dissolution of the monasteries in the sixteenth century. It does however have a wonderful sense of holiness and peace about it which I am sure is not unconnected to the fact that it contains the shrine of Saint Alban.
Saint Alban may never have slain a dragon but I think he would make a very worthy patron saint for England. As Shakespeare should have said: "Cry God for Harry, England and St Alban."
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