Saint George in devotions, traditions and prayers was specially devoted to the saint and declared him the patron saint of Portugal. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Portuguese explorers carried the devotion across the oceans to India and South America. After the thirteenth century, a large portion of the art, iconography and legendary traditions associated with Saint George and many festivals that celebrate him involve the legend of Saint George and the Dragon. The association of Saint George with the dragon was not attested to until the twelfth century version of "Miracula Sancti Georgii" (Codex Romanus Angelicus 46, pt. 12, written in Greek). Jacobus De Voragine, the
Patron saint of idolatry. Although Islam has no codified doctrine of patronage on the part of saints, it has nevertheless been an important part of both Sunni and Shia Islamic tradition that particularly important classical saints have served as the heavenly advocates for specific Muslim empires, nations, cities, towns, and villages. Martin Lings wrote: "There is scarcely a region in the empire of Islam which has not a Sufi for its Patron Saint." As the veneration accorded saints often develops purely organically in Islamic climates, in a manner different to Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity, "patron saints" are often recognized through popular