Historians have argued the exact details of the birth of Saint George for over a century, although the approximate date of his death is subject to little debate.[6][7] The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia takes the position that there seems to be no ground for doubting the historical existence of Saint George, but that little faith can be placed in some of the fanciful stories about him.[8]
The work of the Bollandiste Daniel Papebroch, Jean Bolland, and Godfrey Henschen in the 17th century was one of the first pieces of scholarly research to establish the historicity of the saint's existence via their publications in Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca and paved the way for other scholars to dismiss the medieval legends.[9][10] Pope Gelasius I stated that George was among those saints "whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose actions are known only to God."[11]