One of our most popular secular Christmas traditions is the poem by Clement C. Moore, “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” that was inspired by the venerable, dignified 4th century Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor. Although our modern Santa Claus is in stark contrast to this 4th century saint, the two share the same generous spirit and concern for children which have been translated into the gift giving of the holiday.
Nicholas was still a lay person when he was acclaimed bishop of Myra, the capital city of Lycia in Asia Minor. Few details exist regarding his life and experience.
Biographers agree Nicholas led the diocese with charity and dedication. He was present at the Council of Nicaea in 325 where he argued strongly against Arius, who was promulgating Arianism, the heresy denying the divinity of Christ. Paul Burns writes in “Butler’s Lives of the Saints” that Nicholas was a great champion of justice often intervening with the Roman governors on behalf of prisoners who had been unjustly condemned.
According to Malcolm Day writing in “A Treasury of Saints,” Nicholas was one of the few saints to escape martyrdom and to die naturally of old age in his cathedral around 350.
He has been described as the most human of saints. Many legends associated with his life were made into the miracle plays of the 12th and 13th centuries.
The most popular of these legends is when Nicholas helped a father and his three daughters. The father had lost all his money, which deprived his daughters of dowries. If they failed to find husbands, they would be forced to become slaves or prostitutes.
When Nicholas heard of this, he took a bag of gold and, under cover of darkness, threw it in the window of the man’s house. He did the same for the other two daughters, and they were all able to find husbands.
Numerous drawings and paintings depict Nicholas with these three bags of gold, which later came to be the sign for pawnbrokers and bankers.
Other legends credit Nicholas with saving mariners who were in danger of perishing in a powerful storm at sea. After they appealed to him for help, he prayed for the storm to stop and everyone was brought safely to port.
Nicholas’s cult was clearly established in the East from the 6th century and became widely known in the West in the 10th century. His relics were taken to Bari in southern Italy in the 11th century. From there, devotion to Nicholas spread all over Europe and he soon became the most venerated and colorful saint in all of Christendom after the Virgin Mary. In the Middle Ages more than 400 churches were dedicated to him in England.
These legends and his popularity crossed the Atlantic with explorers and sailors. The Dutch knew him as “Sint Niklaas” and celebrated his December feast day with gift giving at Christmas. When the Dutch Protestants arrived in the New World in the 1600s and settled New Amsterdam (New York), they brought their national festivals with them. “Sint Niklaas” became Santa Claus Day, a day of merriment and gift giving.
St. Nicholas is the patron saint of Russia, Greece and the Italian city of Bari. His feast day is Dec. 6.
The American illustrator, Thomas Nast, later drew the robust figure of Santa Claus from the description of him in “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore, which he read to his children in 1822.