St George under threat

THE meddlers are at it again. Led by the Rev Philip Chester, Vicar of St Matthew's, Westminster, there's a move to replace St George as the patron saint of England with St Alban, the first English Christian martyr who was beheaded near the site of the present day St Albans Cathedral.

If the Church of England backs the change, the traditional flag of a red cross on a white field will have to be replaced by a yellow diagonal cross on a blue field, meaning a redesign of the Union flag.

Meddlers don't like St George because he was Turkish, never visited England, and if he did exist was thought to have been bedheaded in Lydda, Palestine, on April 23 305 for protecting Christians against Roman persectuion. George was adopted by the crusaders after the Battle of Antioch in 1098 on the strength of the legend that he slew dragons and saved damsels in distress.

Contrast this with St Alban, born in England who converted to Christianity, refused to denounce his new religion, and on his way to the place of execution, roses sprang up under his feet and a river parted for him to cross its bed.

There's local moves afoot to press the claims of St Ethelreda, who founded a double monastery on the site where the mighty Ely Cathedral now stands. Born at Exning in Suffolk, she died in Ely of plague on June 23 679. One Ely cheerleader for Ethelreda - Pat Kilbey - says: "In today's politically correct society, with its culture of equality, a woman partol saint should be exactly the image England would hold dear. She is a deinite alternative to the warlike image."

That's just the reason not to change our patron saint. If it's deemed politically correct to do so, I say: keep things as they are.