History provides many examples of actual people who have, over time, become so melded into the popular imagination that we tend to forget they were real. Saint Nicholas is one of them.
Born sometime around 280 A.D. in the town of Patara , in what was then part of Greece but is now part of Turkey , Nicholas was the son of wealthy parents who died when he was young. Having been raised as a devoted Christian, he spent his life using his inheritance to help those in need, and in addition to his charity he became known for harboring great concern for children and sailors.
Down through history, one particular story about his generosity has persisted. In those days, women whose families could not pay a dowry were more likely to die as spinsters than to get married. It is said that when Nicholas learned of a poor man who was worried about his daughters’ fates because he lacked money for their dowries, Nicholas surreptitiously tossed gold into the man’s home through an open window, and the gold landed in stockings that were drying by the fire. Much later, this inspired the modern tradition of hanging stockings by the chimney to receive gifts from Santa on Christmas Eve.
Nicholas became Bishop of Myra, a city on the Myros River near the Mediterranean coast of what is now southern Turkey. He was imprisoned during the anti-Christian persecutions carried out by the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
He was present at the Council of Nicaea (whose 1,700th anniversary was this summer) at which Christianity's fate hung in the balance due to the metastasizing belief in Arianism within the Church. It was at this council that Arianism was officially determined to be a heresy, and at which Nicholas famously confronted Arius face to face.
Nicholas is considered a saint by both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Based on the stories of his life, he is deemed to be a patron saint of orphans, archers, sailors, travelers, repentant thieves, the wrongly imprisoned, and many other categories of people. Churches were constructed in his honor as early as the sixth century A.D.
Today marks the 1,682nd anniversary of his passing, for Nicholas died on December 6, 343. His remains were buried in the cathedral church in Myra, which became a pilgrimage site. In 1087 many of them were moved to Bari, a seaside city in southeastern Italy, where they are still housed in this cathedral. Others are dispersed as relics in places throughout the world.
For generations now, kids and adults alike have used the names Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, and Saint Nick interchangeably, without giving it a second thought. But there was an actual Saint Nicholas, a decent man who is obscured by commercial renderings of Christmas. We should not allow that fact to be forgotten.
Note: The photo at the beginning of this post is of a window depicting Nicholas, taken this May at Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Tarpon Springs, Florida. This cathedral contains one his relics - specifically, a tiny bone fragment displayed in a glass reliquary at the front of the nave.
