Favorite Saint for the Single Girl at Christmas

While every child in the civilized world knows who Santa Claus is, very few even older children are aware of the vaguest facts that go with the lives of the saint that are connected to our modern-day father Christmas.

St. Nicholas was born in Parts in Lycia of Asia Minor.His father was a well to do bishop and his mother was noted for her pious nature. St. Nicholas was said to have been exceptionally holy even in his infancy. It is said that as a babe he kept a holy fast and only ate on Wednesday's and Friday'. He did not play the normal games of childhood and all his energy directed to the study of scripture. St. Nicholas was so remarkable as a holy youth he became the patron saint of children.

As a young man St. Nicholas disdained the wealth of his parents as a hinderance to a holy life. When they died St. Nicholas decided to use their wealth to help the poor. A poor man had four virgin daughters that he had no dowry for. At that time a girl without a dowry would not have been married and would have been a financial burden to her family the rest of their lives. This father had no means by which to support all three daughters and had thought of selling some into slavery to have a dowry for at least one.

St. Nicholas upon hearing this left a bag of gold in the window of the oldest daughter and she was then soon married off. Once she was married he then left a bag of gold for a dowry for the second daughter. The father began to wonder who was providing the dowries for his family. When the second daughter was married the man waited by the window of his third daughter's window and caught St. Nicholas leaving the dowry.

There are many other tales of St. Nicholas leaving dowry money for the daughters of poor families. One story has one maidan having left stocking to dry by the hearth founding her dowry money the next morning in her dry stocking, Hence , the idea of hanging stockings by the fire in order for St. Nicholas to leave a gift. For many years single women prayed to St. Nicholas for a good husband. If online dating has not produced your soul mate yet , one could try St. Nicholas. Since no girl needs a dowry today to marry , I am not sure what a single girl would find in her stocking on Christmas morning except a gift certicate for eharmony.

St, Nicholas later as a young man went to visit the Middle East and is said to have calmed the storm or the voyage there and to change the direction of the ship on the return home, to avoid being sold into slavery.

St. Nicholas eventually became the Archbishop of Myra and was noted for his kindness to the poor. He is credited with saving the people of Myra during a famine. On hearing the Empowers of Rome ships were in the harbor he persuaded the ships masters to share some of the grain with the starving populace. Vivaciously , every time the grain in the ships was depleted by the feeding of the multitudes it was replenished so that the ship masters were not in trouble for not delivering the Emperors freight. St. Nicholas reputation as a Christian leader got the attention of the co rulers Diocletian and Maximus , and eventually he was thrown into a dungeon . There are numerous tales of his escape from prison and the number of lives he saved along the way. St. Nicholas is said to have died December 6, 343.

So while our modern day Santa Claus or Father Christmas might be fine for the tots ,but as a single girl whose reaching that half century mark, I am putting my faith in St. Nicholas. I wonder where I can find a human sized stocking for my soul mate to be left in. I hope my soul mate does not get stuck in the chimney; it might be hard to get the local rescue squad out on Christmas Eve. Wait , I don't have a chimney or even a first floor window. Alas, another year alone; due to living in the wrong apartment.