St. George is the national saint of England, in consequence of the miraculous assistance rendered by him, to the arms of the Christians under Godfrey de Bouillon during the first crusade.
St. George’s Sword, Askelon.
George he shaved the dragon’s beard,
And Askelon was his razor.
Percy’s Reliques, III. iii. 15.
St. George (Le chevalier de), James Francis Edward Stuart, called “The Old (or elder) Pretender” (1688-1766).
St. Graal. (See [Sangraal].)
St. Leon, the hero of a novel of the same name, by W. Goodwin (1799). St. Leon becomes possessed of the “elixir of life,” and of the “philosopher’s stone;” but this knowledge, instead of bringing him wealth and happiness, is the source of misery and endless misfortunes.
Saint Maur, one of the attendants of Sir Reginald Front de Bœuf (a follower of Prince John).—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
St. Nicholas, the patron saint of boys. He is said to have been bishop of Myra, in Lycia, and his death is placed in the year 326.
Under his triple names of St. Nicholas, Santa Claus and Kriss Kringle, he fills good children’s stockings on Christmas Eve. Clement C. Moore has made the annual visit of this saint “in a miniature sleigh drawn by eight tiny reindeer,” the subject of his famous nursery poem beginning:
“’Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”
(1844).