The St. George story (“Good Day, Good Knight,” April 28-May4) makes the dragon seem like a fantasy or imaginary addition to the life of the saint. Why would anyone believe in the saint if such an important element of his life is left as fiction? If Catholics would read the Book of Revelation as it was meant to be read, the story of St. George would be far more understandable.

In chapter 12 of Revelation, a dragon named Satan attempts to kill the child of the woman “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” The child was intended to be the presence of God among humanity and the dragon didn't want that to happen. The child was taken up to God and the woman escaped to earth. The dragon was then cast out of heaven by St. Michael. Once on earth, the dragon pursued the woman and made war on “all who obey God's commandments and bear witness for Jesus.”

In the next chapter, a beast is introduced that looks like the dragon, but represents empires. The beast is worshipped by those whose names are not written down in the book of life of the Lamb of God. The Roman emperor Diocletian started a persecution in 303 A.D. to force a pagan religion on everyone, a religion related to gods who don't exist.

St. George refused to follow the edict of Diocletian and accepted martyrdom as a witness to Christ. Such a witness was important in making Christianity the official religion of the Roman empire a few years later or “in slaying the dragon.”

The story of St. George is used to show how the witness to Christ could destroy the pagan religions. It is an application of what is known from the Book of Revelation to the witness of St. George. Such fulfillment of Scripture should be noted in any account of a saint so great and so important for our time as well.

Do we really want the true message of such a witness to be left as only an apparent fantasy?

DEACON LAWRENCE R. MICHAELS Escondido, California