THE BROTHERHOOD OF ST. GEORGE
EST. AD 300
ABOUT OUR MOST NOBLE PATRON, ST. GEORGE
"Knights of St. George appear at different historical periods and in different countries as mutually independent bodies having nothing in common but the veneration of St. George, the patron of knighthood.
St. George of Lydda, a martyr of the persecution of Diocletian in the fourth century, is one of those military saints whom Byzantine iconography represented as a horseman armed cap-a-pie, like the flower of the Roman armies after the military reform of Justinian in the sixth century.
According to the Legenda Aurea, a terrible dragon had ravaged all the country round a city of Libya, called Selena, making its lair in a marshy swamp. Its breath caused pestilence whenever it approached the town, so the people gave the monster two sheep every day to satisfy its hunger, but, when the sheep failed, a human victim was necessary and lots were drawn to determine the victim.
On one occasion the lot fell to the king's little daughter. The king offered all his wealth to purchase a substitute, but the people had pledged themselves that no substitutes should be allowed, and so the maiden, dressed as a bride, was led to the marsh. There St. George chanced to ride by, and asked the maiden what she did, but she bade him leave her lest he also might perish. The good knight stayed, however, and, when the dragon appeared, St. George, making the sign of the cross, bravely attacked it and transfixed it with his lance. Then asking the maiden for her girdle, he bound it round the neck of the monster, and thereupon the princess was able to lead it like a lamb. They then returned to the city, where St. George bade the people have no fear but only be baptized, after which he cut off the dragon's head and the townsfolk were all converted.
The king would have given George half his kingdom, but the saint replied that he must ride on, bidding the king meanwhile take good care of God's churches, honour the clergy, and have pity on the poor."
-Pilfered and Adapted from The Catholic Encyclopedia
ABOUT THE BROTHERHOOD
We, the Most Noble, Most Decorous, Most Dashing, Most Roguish-yet-Righteous, Most Brotherhood of St. George, exist to uphold the example set by our Most Illustrious, Most Holy, Most Proficient With a Lance Patron, St. George. Namely, that is, to slay dragons and effect the rescue of princesses and other such damsels in distress. Being the 21st century, we are open to more diplomatic ways of dealing with dragons, such as negotiations and bribery - but in those cases, we shall still say that we have slain the dragon, only that we have slain him intellectually or financially.
Of course, the Brotherhood of St. George seeks as well to honor that other stuff about honoring the Church and taking care of the poor or whatever that other stuff was about.
"Toujours tuer les dragons"
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