Emil Beüt and Belenguer
The city of Valencia solemnly celebrated the feast of Sant Jordi. Perhaps because he kept alive the memory of the battle of the Puig where, according to tradition, the Sant Cavaller appeared, he advanced the attracted States of the Crown of Aragon by giving splendor to the festival. There is no precise record of the date the Martyr of Cappadocia began to celebrate, but it is documented that already in 1341 the Valencian Jury made a "Call" reminding the people "that the feast of St. Jordi is tinga". The antiquity, so, is older.
Annually on the saint's feast day, which was mandatory, there was a general procession organized by the Jury and with the assistance of the authorities and "all trades" each with its own sounds and many inventions "- according to a report from the time- with its flags and standards, not missing the Royal Flag, escorted by the Hundred Feather Company, that went "with crossbows and arquebuses with the insignia of St. George with the flag Hundred with pifanos and drums", as detailed old chronicles.
In the place at the moment denominated of Rodrigo Bonet, and that a few years ago it was St. George's Day, there was a temple dedicated to the Martyr of Cappadocia - which was demolished in 1862-; all the processions left the Cathedral and went to this church, they entered through a door, they bowed at the high altar, and then they left through another door.
Not only was a procession organized in Sant Jordi on the occasion of his festivity, but also the 9 October, anniversary of the conquest of the city by James I, basic ephemeris of the Kingdom's constitution in a State, and on which date the festival had a specific splendor in the years when the centenaries were celebrated.
The devotion of Valencia centered on the Holy Knight, and any knowledge was reason to hold a procession in his honor. So the year 1350 the joy of the birth of Infant Joan, son of King Peter II of Valencia, manifested itself with a general procession in Sant Jordi; as in 1355 it is made for the return of Sardinia of the same king, in the month of September; in a 1487 between the festivities on the occasion of the capture of Malaga by Ferdinand the Catholic, there was also a procession to St. George; as it was in 1547 because Charles I took Duke John Frederick of Saxony prisoner of war, voter of the German Empire. Also in 1610 Patriarch Joan de Ribera ordered a general procession, who will go to St. George’s Church, the 21 November, to celebrate the expulsion of the Moors.
St. George's Day of the Year 1413 it was especially important, since in the religious solemnity he delivered the sermon no less than Father Vicent Ferrer. Taking advantage of his stay in Valencia to preach Lent, eloquent dominic pronounced, at the request of the Jury, a beautiful sermon in the Plaza de la Seu, of which the text is preserved and is considered one of the best that the Valencian saint will pronounce. In it he referred to "the help you give (Saint George) in the conquest of the city and kingdom of Valencia".
The cult of Sant Jordi remained alive in Valencia for centuries. There is currently a parish that has Sant Jordi Mártir as its head, in Avinguda Pianista Amparo Iturbi.
