Happy St. Nicholas Day to All My Dear Readers and Your Children

Saint Nicholas Day is observed on December 6th (in Western Christian countries) and December 19th (in Eastern Christian countries). It's the feast day of Saint Nicholas, who is celebrated as a bringer of gifts. In Europe, especially in Germany and Poland, boys used to dress as bishops begging alms for the poor. In the Netherlands, Dutch children put out a clog filled with hay and a carrot for Saint Nicholas's horse before going to bed on December 5th, hoping to find coins in the shoe in the morning. On Saint Nicholas Day, gifts are tagged with personal humorous rhymes written by the giver. In France, Saint Nicholas is celebrated primarily in Alsace, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, and Lorraine, where he is the patron saint. A little donkey carries baskets filled with children's gifts, biscuits and candies. The most popular French St. Nicholas legend (also the subject of a French children's song) is of three children who wandered away and got lost. Cold and hungry, they were lured by a wicked butcher into his shop where he killed them and salted them away in a large tub. Through St. Nicholas' help, the boys were revived and returned to their families, earning him a reputation as the protector of children. The evil butcher has followed St. Nicholas in penance ever since as Père Fouettard, a devilish character who used to hit bad children and leave them ashes or lumps of coal instead of gifts. In France, statues and paintings often portray this event, showing the saint with children in a barrel. ~~~~~ But who was the real St. Nicholas? Called St. Nicholas "of Bari" for the city in southern Italy where his remains supposedly rest, St. Nicholas was a fourth century Bishop of Myra. He has enjoyed great veneration for fifteen hundred years and a large number of churches around the world have been dedicated in his memory. He is said to have been born at Patara in Lycia, a province of Asia Minor in what is now Turkey. Myra, the capital, not far from the sea, was an episcopal seat, and when this church became vacant, records show that Nicholas was chosen bishop and became famous for his extraordinary piety and miracles. The Greek histories of his life all say that he suffered imprisonment for his faith and that he was present at the Council of Nicaea that condemned Arianism. The silence of other authors makes many historians suspect these details. He died at Myra, and was buried in his cathedral. This brief account is all that is known about the life of the famous St Nicholas, and even a little more; for his episcopate at Myra during the fourth century is really all that is absolutely authentic. ~~~~~ Nevertheless, the universal popularity of the saint for so many centuries has focused on certain legends that grew up around St. Nicholas. One is that his parents died when he was a young man, leaving him well off and he determined to devote his inheritance to works of charity. An opportunity soon arose. A citizen of Patara had lost all his money, and had to support three daughters who could not find husbands because of their poverty; so the wretched man was going to give them over to prostitution. When Nicholas heard this, he took a bag of gold and, under cover of darkness threw it in at the open window of the man's house. It was a dowry for the eldest girl and she was soon duly married. At intervals, Nicholas did the same for the second and third; at the last time the father was on watch, recognized his benefactor and overwhelmed him with his gratitude. Likenesses of St. Nicholas often show three purses, which through the centuries came to be mistaken for the heads of three children and so they gave rise to the highly improbable story, above, of the children, brought back to life by the saint, after they had been killed by a butcher and pickled in a brine-tub. It also reinforced the ancient belief that St. Nicholas was especially fond of children and always did all he could to help them. ~~~~~ The American Santa Claus, as well as the British Father Christmas, derive from Saint Nicholas. "Santa Claus" is itself derived in part from the Dutch Sinterklaas, the saint's name in that language. However, the gift giving associated with these derived children's patrons is associated with Christmas Day rather than Saint Nicholas Day itself. Santa's red suit is a reminder of the red episcopal cloak and robes of St. Nicholas, who arrives by horse instead of on a reindeer-pulled sled - thus the hay and carrots for the good saint's horse instead of the cookies and milk for Father Christmas and Santa Claus. ~~~~~ But, wherever you stop today you are likely to find children singing songs and enjoying goodies left by St. Nicholas. His feast is celebrated in Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, The Netherlands, Belgium, all of eastern Europe from Poland and Serbia to Ukraine, and farther afield in Greece, Lebanon and even Palestine - although perhaps less so in the Middle East nowadays since Christians are being harassed, persecuted and killed. But, wherever there are children who recognize the saint in red robes wearing a bishop's tall mitre and riding a white horse, they will be laughing and singing his praises today. St. Nicholas lives in their hearts. He is, after all, the Patron Saint of Children.