December 6th - St. Nicholas of Myra (Bari) B (RM)
Died c. 350.

 St. Nicholas was probably born to wealthy parents at Patara in Lycia, a
province of Asia Minor. He was chosen bishop of the then rundown diocese of
the capital of Myra, which he ruled with great care and faith. There he
became known for his holiness, zeal, and miracles. To these meager facts
legend, however, has supplied colorful details. His first 'biography' was
written in the 9th century; a more popular one was written by Simon
Metaphrastes in the 10th century. Greek histories hold that he suffered
imprisonment and made a famous confession during the persecution of
Diocletian. He was present at the Council of Nicaea, where he condemned
Arianism-one story holds that he actually slapped the heretic Arius. He died
at Myra in Lycia. However, there is no historical support for either his
confession nor his attendance at the council.

By the time of Justinian (6th century), there was a basilica built in his
honor at Constantinople. From the 9th century in the East and the 11th
century in the West, he has been one of the most popular saints of
Christendom and the subject of many legends. These hold that he was a
wealthy young man who decided to devote his money to charitable activities
and his life to converting sinners.

The legends tell of how St. Nicholas, still sticky from the womb, rose up
out of his first bath to fold his hands and raise his eyes to heaven in
order to cleanse his heart before his body. He is also said to have taught
his wet nurse about mortification by refusing her breast more than once on
each Wednesday and Friday-a precocious exercise of asceticism!

Nicholas could have found communion with God in a monastic life, but to walk
within the confines of a cloister would be insufficient for the saint's
devotion. He wanted to be able to follow the footsteps of Jesus in
Palestine, which he did. On his voyages across the sea, he calmed the waves
(which is why he is patron of sailors and travelers).

A citizen of Patara lost his fortune, and because he could not raise dowries
for his three daughters, he was going to give them over to prostitution.
After hearing this, Nicholas took a bag of gold and threw it through the
window of the man's house at night. The eldest girl was married with it as
her dowry. He performed the same action for each of the other girls. The
three purses, portrayed in art with the saint, were mistakenly thought to be
the heads of children, and thus originated the story that three children,
murdered by an innkeeper and pickled in a tub of brine, were resuscitated by
Nicholas. The three purses are also thought to be the origin of the
pawnbrokers' symbol of three gold balls.

Another legend holds that he appeared to sailors caught in storms off the
coast of Lycia and led them safely into port. Churches built under his
dedication are often placed so that they can be seen off the coast as
landmarks.

Yet another legend has it that he appeared to Constantine in a dream and
thereby caused him to save three unjustly condemned imperial officers from
death. Possibly another version says that the governor of Myra took a bribe
to condemn to death three innocent men. The executioner was about to kill
them when the bishop of the city, Nicholas, appeared and prevented the
execution. Turning to the governor, the saint upbraided him till he
confessed his sin and begged to be forgiven.

When Myra fell into the hands of the Saracens, Italian cities seized the
chance to acquire the relics of Nicholas. The relics were stolen by Italian
merchants and came to Bari in southern Italy in 1087. A new church was built
to shelter them, and Pope Urban II was present at their enshrining. The
already popular saint became even more highly regarded thereafter. The
shrine became one of the great pilgrimage centers of medieval Europe. Many
miracles were reputed to have been worked through his intercession.

The popular cultural representation of "St. Nick" is based on a combination
of Low Countries' custom of giving children presents on his feast day as
their patron, and the Dutch Protestants of New Amsterdam (now New York)
linking this to Nordic folklore of a magician who punished naughty children
and rewarded exemplary ones with presents. (It should be noted that the
figure of Santa Claus is really non-Christian and is based on the Germanic
god Thor, who was associated with winter and the Yule log and rode on a
chariot drawn by goats named Cracker and Gnasher.)

Throughout Europe in the middle ages, St. Nicholas's feast day was the
occasion for electing a Boy Bishop, who reigned until the feast of the Holy
Innocents on December 28. Even in this century the custom survives in
Montserrat in Catalonia, Spain (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney,
Encyclopedia, White).

St. Nicholas's emblem in art is three balls. Sometimes he is portrayed (1)
as a young man throwing three golden balls into the window of three poor
girls; (2) raising three children from a pickle tub; (3) rescuing survivors
from a shipwreck; (4) reviving a man unjustly hanged (not to be confused
with Nicholas of Tolentino, who is never a bishop); or (5) as a new-born
babe praising God. Venerated at Bari, Monserrat, and Russia (Roeder).

Patron of children (Santa Claus, Sint Klaus), bankers, captives (because of
the rescue), pawnbrokers (three balls), and sailors (for miraculously saving
doomed mariners off the coast of Lycia) (Roeder), brides, unmarried women
(because he provided dowries), perfumers (from his shrine at Bari there was
said to originate a fragrant 'myrrh'), of travelers, pilgrims, and safe
journeys (because he reputedly traveled to the Holy Land and Egypt),
maritime pilots (White), boatmen, fishermen, sailors, dock workers,
stevedores, brewers, coopers, bootblacks, the unjustly judged, and poets
(Encyclopedia). Russia, Greece, Sicily, Lorraine, Moscow, Freibourg, and
Apulia all fall under his patronage, too (White).