Letter: Nominations for a new St George

Sir: Jacqueline Doyle is quite correct that an apocryphal Roman should not be our patronal saint. My own feeling is that it would be good to see at least one woman in heaven praying for these islands.

There does not seem to be a female saint at all who is neither virgin or martyr (and therefore a difficult role model for most of us) but, failing that, may I suggest St Hilda of Whitby, also a north-easterner, who became Abbess of Hartlepool and, in 657, founded the famous monastery at Whitby, a double house for nuns and monks over which she ruled wisely for 22 years.

Yours faithfully,

JANE LAWSON

London, SE7

21 April