After a long, miserable English winter, signs of spring are particularly welcome - and this morning, England has woken to cloudless blue sky - and a sun which is not merely visible, but which is also giving off some warmth one can feel. This largely repeats for me, my first spring in the UK. (The preceding winter had not in fact been particularly severe, but felt like it to me, unaccustomed to the English climate, and after enduring the northern autumn / winter cycle almost immediately after the southern one, with only a few weeks of English late summer intervening).

On that day in my first English spring, the first that I was happy to agree displayed genuine spring weather, I was delighted to discover that the date was in fact a notable double celebration for the country: the feast day of St George the Dragon Slayer, patron saint of England, and also Will Shakespeare’s birthday. Ever since, the date has been fixed in my own mind as the unofficial date which I personally accept as the start of spring. This year, once again, the weather has co-operated, initiating spring very properly on this day of double celebration for the English.

For English gay men, there’s an additional reason to cheer - both have gay / queer associations.

For George, it lies in an ancient tradition that described him as a “bridegroom of Christ”. This image, also applied to St Bernardo de Hoyos, grows in relevance with every advance for equal marriage. I also like to picture him as slaying the double headed dragon of homophobia and the closet. He was martyred under the Diocletian persecution for refusing to deny his Christian faith: we too should refuse to deny the truth of our affectional orientation. This”prayer to Saint George” can easily be read with reference to bearing the trials of homophobia.

Faithful servant of God and invincible martyr, St George, inflamed with a burning love of Christ, you fought against the dragon of pride, falsehood, and deceit. Neither pain nor torture, nor the sword nor death could part you from the love of Christ.

I implore you for the sake of this love to help me by your intercession to overcome the temptations that surround me, and to bear bravely the trials that oppress me, so that I may patiently carry my cross, and let neither distress nor difficulty separate me from the love of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

For Shakespeare, there are the numerous sonnets addressed to a male lover, and the gender bending fun in many of the comedies.

For all Catholics, alongside the arrival of spring this year, we have good reason to celebrate also the signs of spring spreading over the Church.

Here follows my original post on St George, first posted in 2009: