Vicent Berenguer
At this time of night, patron Saint George the Martyr, Our Saint George, we turn our eyes to you, more so than at other times, more for work and for joy. For the work we do in our fields, in our workshops, and for the joy we hope to embrace in our holidays, in our relic.
The night has its gradations. It's not midnight yet; we will soon be in what poets call a stormy night, deep night. They will make the stars clear if they are not darkened for all.
How will they look for the afflicted, for the sick? The lights will shine in the cities and the countryside. How will they contemplate the oil lamp?, the electric light the eyes that rise to you, Saint George patron, with comfort, with grief?
We all want peace; we all want it for ourselves and for the world. Tu, Saint George Martyr, you are our peace. But your radiation, from the stars at your feet, is of universal peace. Saint George Martyr, our patron, il•lumina’ns, protect us, inspire us.
Notes. As often happens with some authors, my admiration for Azorín makes me always return to his work and, like this, this Sant Jordi prayer comes from an adaptation I made of his Oración en la noche, published in: Albacete, always (Albacete: Albacete City Hall, 1970, once. 15, non-commercial edition). A work designed by José S. Serna (compilation, prologue and notes), the illustrious prose writer and lawyer from Albacete who corresponded frequently with Azorín and who, happily, made this alluring book possible.
The volume in question consists of about twenty texts or fragments published by Azorín in his day in different works, now all of them directly related to Albacete or La Mancha. in there, written in the year 1961, when the author was eighty-eight years old - he died six years later, precisely this Oración en la noche is found. Because of its meaning and sentiment, I have rewritten it in my language - which was also Azorín's- dedicated to the patron saint of Banyeres de Mariola i, for that, I have decided to publish it in the space and time that seems most appropriate to me as it is, precisely, the program of the festivities of Sant Jordi de Banyeres de Mariola.
In the cited work, Albacete always, there are some references to the sentence that ras and short, without further comments I transcribe them to record some details about the origin of this Azorian prayer, in prose, moving in my opinion, which this year I sought to turn into a Jordanian text, exactly in a Jordanian sentence, dedicated to the kind readers who follow this festive publication.
on the page. 129: prayer at night. Compiler in charge (Jose S.. Serna) per Radio Popular, of Albacete, of the proclamation of the fair of 1961, Azorín, always ready for his friendly help, gifted the apprentice crier with this prayer that will never wither.
Devotee of the Virgin of the Plains (our Marededéu: one of the most beautiful Marian invocations), he left it written in two moments, that delicate bouquet of fresh flowers, expose roses, great joy for all the people of Albacete; George "is one of the most obscure subjects of Christian hagiography" and insists on "the extraordinary popularity enjoyed in the Middle Ages by a Syrian martyr over whom history persists in keeping a deep silence.", for Cardinal Talavera, then bishop of the diocese.
It was recited in that broadcast to the public. (There is an extensive review in La Voz de Albacete, 7 of September)
1, on the page. 82, from an interview in Azorín in the years 60, an extract: (Christmas Eve is not a party. It is a time of solitude and prayer.)
(Azorin, what is prayer for you?)
(Same as meditation.)
