The History of Saint Nicholas

Many miracles are attributed to Saint Nicholas. In one legend, his province was starving from a famine. Saint Nicholas convinced the captain of an imperial ship carrying grain to Alexandria, to give some of the grain to his people. The captain reluctantly agreed. With the small amount of grain he had gotten from the ships, Saint Nicholas was able to miraculously feed his province for the next two years. When the ships who had given him the grain docked in Alexandria, the captain was shocked to find that they had the same amount of grain they start with.

Other miracles attributed to Saint Nicholas include bringing three murdered school boys back to life, and giving money to a poor nobleman so he could dower three poor maidens. This last miracle was so popular that Saint Nicholas became the patron saint of unmarried maidens.

When Saint Nicholas died, in 341, he was buried in Myra. Many pilgrims made trips to his tomb. However, by 1085, political conflicts in Asia Minor made visiting Saint Nicholas' tomb nearly impossible for Christians. Sailors of Bari stole his remains and brought them to the small Italian town to Bari, where Christians could visit freely. Saint Nicholas was laid to rest in a church in Bari, named for him.

Tales of Saint Nicholas' generosity soon spread beyond the Mediterranean. Soldiers on the way to first Crusade stopped at Bari, which was now a Mecca for pilgrims and heard stories of Saint Nicholas's works. They carried those tales home to Northern and Central Europe and the British Isles. Anyone who received an unexpected gift would give thanks to Saint Nicholas.

Patron Saint

600 years after Nicholas' death, the Russian Emperor, Vladimir was visiting Constantinople and heard about the amazing miracles that Nicholas preformed. So moved was he, Vladimir proclaimed Saint Nicholas as the patron saint of Russia. Greece also claimed Saint Nicholas as their patron saint.

Many groups claimed Nicholas as their patron saint, as well. Sailors revere Saint Nicholas because it was believed that he calmed the seas and restored life to a dying sailor on trip from Aisa Minor to the Holy Land.

Throughout the Middle Ages, no Saint was more revered than Saint Nicholas. Hundreds of chapels were named after him, especially in Catholic countries with a seaboard.

Saint Nicholas and Christmas

In France Saint Nicholas Day was celebrated by choosing a boy to act as bishop for the day. "Bishop Nicholas Day" as it was called, was a rowdy celebration where the young boy and his classmates would lead a parade through town and people would give them money. Half the money was to go toward candles for the church, and the other half for candy for the boys. By the 1400s celebrating "Boy Bishops" had spread to Germany, Switzerland, the Low Countries, and England. As the festivities grew in rowdiness, and the boys began keeping all the money, the practice was soon abandoned.

When the Protestant Reformation began in the 16^th Century, many protestant regions, especially Germany, England and Scandinavia stopped celebrating Saint Nicholas Day, and moved their gift giving to Christmas Eve. By the early 17^th Century, many children in Western Europe had never heard of Saint Nicholas. Only the Netherlands continued to observe his Saint Day. Dutch settlers would bring the idea of Saint Nicholas, or Sinter Klass with them to the new world, where he would eventually be called Santa Clause.

Sources:

Barth, Edna. Holly, Reindeer and Colored Lights: The Story of the Christmas Symbols. New York: Clarion Books, 1971.

Coffin, Tristam. The Book of Christmas Folklore. New York: The Seabury Press, 1973.

Lankford, Mary. Christmas Around the World. New York: Morrow Junior Books, 1995.

Wernecke, Herbert. Christmas Customs Around The World. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.