54 Facts About Saint Nicholas

Saint Nicholas of Myra, known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor during the time of the Roman Empire.

Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, unmarried people, and students in various cities and countries around Europe.

Saint Nicholas's reputation evolved among the pious, as was common for early Christian saints, and his legendary habit of secret gift-giving gave rise to the traditional model of Santa Claus through Sinterklaas.

Saint Nicholas is said to have been born in the Greek seaport of Patara, Lycia, in Asia Minor to wealthy Christian parents.

Saint Nicholas was later cast into prison during the persecution of Diocletian, but was released after the accession of Constantine.

The earliest mentions of Saint Nicholas indicate that, by the sixth century, his cult was already well-established.

Saint Nicholas's name occurs as "Saint Nicholas of Myra of Lycia" on the tenth line of a list of attendees at the Council of Nicaea recorded by the historian Theodoret in the Historiae Ecclesiasticae Tripartitae Epitome, written sometime between 510 and 515.

The earliest complete account of Nicholas's life that has survived to the present is a Life of Saint Nicholas, written in the early ninth century by Michael the Archimandrite, nearly 500 years after Nicholas's probable death.

Cann and medievalist Charles W Jones both consider Michael the Archimandrite's Life the only account of Saint Nicholas that is likely to contain any historical truth.

Accounts of Saint Nicholas's life agree on the essence of his story, but modern historians disagree regarding how much of this story is actually rooted in historical fact.

Traditionally, Saint Nicholas was born in the city of Patara, a port on the Mediterranean Sea, in Asia Minor in the Roman Empire, to a wealthy family of Greek Christians.

In some accounts, Saint Nicholas's uncle was the bishop of the city of Myra, in Lycia.

The father immediately arranged a marriage for his first daughter, and after her wedding, Saint Nicholas threw a second bag of gold through the same window late at night.

The father fell on his knees, thanking him, and Saint Nicholas ordered him not to tell anyone about the gifts.

The scene of Saint Nicholas's secret gift-giving is one of the most popular scenes in Christian devotional art, appearing in icons and frescoes from across Europe.

Philostratus does not mention the fate of the daughters and, in his story, Apollonius's generosity is purely motivated out of sympathy for the father; in Michael the Archimandrite's account Saint Nicholas is instead expressly stated to be motivated by a desire to save the daughters from being sold into prostitution.

Saint Nicholas argues that this desire to help women is most characteristic of fourth-century Christianity, due to the prominent role women played in the early Christian movement, rather than Greco-Roman paganism or the Christianity of Michael the Archimandrite's time in the ninth century, by which point the position of women had drastically declined.

The bishop of Myra, who had succeeded Saint Nicholas's uncle, had recently died and the priests in the city had decided that the first priest to enter the church that morning would be made bishop.

Saint Nicholas went to the church to pray and was therefore proclaimed the new bishop.

Saint Nicholas is said to have been imprisoned and tortured during the Great Persecution under the Emperor Diocletian, but was released under the orders of the Emperor Constantine the Great.

One of the earliest attested stories of Saint Nicholas is one in which he saves three innocent men from execution.

Saint Nicholas appeared to Constantine and Ablabius in dreams, informing Constantine of the truth and frightening Ablabius into releasing the generals, for fear of Hell.

Saint Nicholas confronted the generals for allowing their soldiers to misbehave and the generals brought an end to the looting.

Immediately after the soldiers had returned to their ships, Saint Nicholas heard word of the three innocent men about to be executed and the three generals aided him in stopping the execution.

Eustathius attempted to flee on his horse but Saint Nicholas stopped his horse and chastised him for his corruption.

Saint Nicholas then made his dream appearances and the three generals were set free.

In 325, Saint Nicholas is said to have attended the First Council of Nicaea, where he is said to have been a staunch opponent of Arianism and a devoted supporter of Trinitarianism, and one of the bishops who signed the Nicene Creed.

Saint Nicholas's name appears on a total of three early lists, one of which, Theodore the Lector, is generally considered to be the most accurate.

Saint Nicholas tells them he is imprisoned "for loving you" and they free him from his chains and restore his vestments.

Saint Nicholas, visiting the region to care for the hungry, saw through the butcher's lies and resurrected the pickled children by making the sign of the cross.

That Saint Nicholas was shown with children led people to conclude he was the patron saint of children; meanwhile, the fact that he was shown with a barrel led people to conclude that he was the patron saint of brewers.

Saint Nicholas invited the sailors to unload a part of the wheat to help in the time of need.

Only when Saint Nicholas promised them that they would not suffer any loss for their consideration did the sailors agree.

Saint Nicholas's name is painted on part of the ruined building.

On 28 December 2009, the Turkish government announced that it would be formally requesting the return of Saint Nicholas's skeletal remains to Turkey from the Italian government.

Turkish authorities asserted that Saint Nicholas himself desired to be buried at his episcopal town, and that his remains were illegally removed from his homeland.

The sailors from Bari took only the main bones of Saint Nicholas's skeleton, leaving all the minor fragments in the grave.

Stories quickly developed about Saint Nicholas himself having been held in that prison.

An index finger claimed to belong to Saint Nicholas was kept in a chapel along the Ostian Way in Rome.

An Irish tradition states that the relics of Saint Nicholas are reputed to have been stolen from Myra by local Norman crusading knights in the twelfth century and buried near Thomastown, County Kilkenny, where a stone slab marks the site locally believed to be his grave.

Whereas the devotional importance of relics and the economics associated with pilgrimages caused the remains of most saints to be divided up and spread over numerous churches in several countries, Saint Nicholas is unusual in that most of his bones have been preserved in one spot: his grave crypt in Bari.

Saint Nicholas suffered from severe chronic arthritis in his spine and pelvis.

The broken nose appeared to conform with hagiographical reports that Saint Nicholas had been beaten and tortured during the Diocletianic Persecution.

The results of the radiocarbon dating confirmed that the pelvis dates to the fourth century AD, around the same time that Saint Nicholas would have died, and is not a medieval forgery.

In centuries of Greek folklore, Saint Nicholas was seen as "The Lord of the Sea", often described by modern Greek scholars as a kind of Christianized version of Poseidon.

Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of all of Greece and particularly of the Hellenic Navy.

Saint Nicholas is mentioned in the Liturgy of Preparation during the Divine Liturgy and during the All-Night Vigil.

In Monaco, the Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate was built from 1874 on the site of St Saint Nicholas's church, founded in 1252.

Today, Saint Nicholas is still celebrated as a great gift-giver in several Western European and Central European countries.

The custom of giving gifts on Saint Nicholas Day is popular in various parts of Christendom, with a popular tradition including children placing their shoes in the foyer for Saint Nicholas to deliver presents therein.

Saint Nicholas is a popular subject portrayed on countless Eastern Orthodox icons, particularly Russian and Serbian ones.

Saint Nicholas is depicted as an Orthodox bishop, wearing the omophorion and holding a Gospel Book.

Iconographically, Saint Nicholas is depicted as an elderly man with a short, full, white, fluffy beard and balding head.

In Roman Catholic iconography, Saint Nicholas is depicted as a bishop, wearing the insignia of this dignity: a bishop's vestments, a mitre and a crozier.