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St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra and Santa Claus

St. Nicholas Day is a revered tradition early in the Advent season, with children setting out stockings or shoes overnight and awaking to them filled with goodies from St. Nick. But who is the historic St. Nicholas, and from where does his legendary gift-giving status come?

For one of the most legendary Catholic saints, there's actually little known about the historical Nicholas. We know for sure that he was Bishop of Myra, in modern-day Turkey, and that he participated in the Council of Nicaea. He was also likely tortured under the Diocletian persecution, the last major surge of Roman persecutions of Christians before Christianity became legalized in the empire. Other than this, we have stories which, although cannot be completely verified, have catapulted Saint Nicholas into legendary status.

Nicholas supposedly was born into a wealthy family, but chose to give away his inheritance when his parents passed away. One charming story of Nicholas's generosity tells us of three poor sisters who couldn't marry because their family couldn't afford their dowries. Nicholas surreptitiously put bags of money to cover the dowries through their window at night. One version of the story claims that when he threw the bags through the window, they landed in the stockings hanging by the fire to dry - the birth of the Santa Claus origin story!

Nicholas attended the Council of Nicaea in 325, the first ecumenical church council. The council was convened to combat the Arian heresy, which taught that Jesus was not divine and had overtaken large swaths of the Church. The outcome of this council was the Nicene Creed, the basic tenets of our faith that we still recite every Sunday. Legend has it that while an Arian follower was speaking at the council, Nicholas was so upset with his message that he walked over and slapped the heretic; some versions of the story maintain that it was Arius himself whom Nicholas slapped! The story continues that Nicholas was imprisoned for this outburst, but was released from his cell by Jesus and Mary.

Many other legends about Nicholas have trickled down through the generations, and in our own fairly secular age, he has become much more recognized as jolly old St. Nicholas with his sleigh and reindeers than the actual historical figure that he is. While indulging in some Santa fun surely isn't harmful, let's be sure to remember the holy man behind the legend, and pray for his intercession during these Advent and Christmas seasons!

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