Saint George's Day. Saint George's Day, also called the Feast of Saint George, is the feast day of Saint George as celebrated by various Christian Churches and by the several nations, old kingdoms, regions, states, countries and cities of which Saint George is the patron saint-including Bulgaria, England, Georgia, Portugal, as well as the Spanish communities of Cáceres, Alcoy, Aragon and Catalonia. The saint also has his state holiday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Saint George's Day is normally celebrated on 23 April. However, Church of England rules denote that no saints' day should be celebrated between Palm Sunday and the Sunday after Easter Day so if 23 April falls in that period the celebrations are transferred to after it. 23 April is the traditionally accepted date of the saint's death in the Diocletianic Persecution of AD 303. In the calendars of the Lutheran Churches, those of the Anglican Communion, and the General Calendar of the Roman Rite, the feast of Saint George is normally celebrated on 23 April. Since Easter often falls close to Saint George's Day, the church celebration of the feast may be moved from 23 April: For 2011, 2014 and 2019 the Lutheran, Anglican and Catholic calendars celebrated Saint George's Day on the first available weekday after the Octave of Easter. Similarly, the Eastern Orthodox celebration of the feast moves accordingly to the first Monday after Easter or, as it is sometimes called, to the Monday of Bright Week. The church celebration may also be moved if 23 April falls on a Sunday; in England and Wales the Catholic calendar celebrated Saint George on Monday 24 April 2017. Besides the 23 April feast, some Orthodox Churches have additional feasts dedicated to St George. The country of Georgia celebrates the feast of St George on 23 April and, more prominently, 10 November, which currently fall on 6 May and 23 November, respectively. The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the dedication of the Church of St George in Kiev by Yaroslav the Wise in 1051 on 26 November, which currently falls on 9 December on the Gregorian calendar. In the Tridentine Calendar Saint George's Day was given the rank of Semidouble. In Pope Pius XII's 1955 calendar this rank is reduced to Simple. In Pope John XXIII's 1960 calendar the celebration is just a Commemoration. In Pope Paul VI's revision of the calendar that came into force in 1969, it was given the equivalent rank of a Memorial, of optional use. In some countries, such as England, the rank is higher. Saint George's Day in England The earliest documented mention of St. George in England comes from the Catholic monk the venerable Bede. His feast day is also mentioned in the Durham Collectar, a ninth-century liturgical work. The will of Alfred the Great is said to refer to the saint, in a reference to the church of Fordington, Dorset. At Fordington a stone over the south door records the miraculous appearance of St. George to lead crusaders into battle. Early dedications of churches to St. George are noted in England, for example at Fordingham, Dorset, at Thetford, Southwark and Doncaster. In the past, historians mistakenly pointed to the Synod of Oxford in 1222 as elevating the feast to special prominence, but the earliest manuscripts of the synod's declaration do not mention the feast of St. George. The declarations of the Province of Canterbury in 1415 and the Province of York in 1421 elevated the feast to a double major, and as a result, work was prohibited and church attendance was mandatory. Edward III put his Order of the Garter under the banner of St. George. This order is still the foremost order of knighthood in England and St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle was built by Edward IV and Henry VII in honour of the order. The badge of the Order shows Saint George on horseback slaying the dragon. Froissart observed the English invoking St. George as a battle cry on several occasions during the Hundred Years' War. Certain English soldiers also displayed the pennon of St. George.