Nicholas, Saint (A.D. 300’s), is one of the most popular saints of the Christian church. He is the patron saint of sailors, travelers, bakers, merchants, and especially children. Little is known about his life except that he was Bishop of Myra in Lycia, an ancient region on the southwestern Mediterranean coast of what is now Turkey. According to tradition, he was born in Patara, a city in Lycia. Some legends say that he made a pilgrimage as a boy to Egypt and Palestine; that he was imprisoned during the Roman Emperor Diocletian’s persecution of Christians; and that he was released under Emperor Constantine I. Legends also say Nicholas attended the Council of Nicaea in 325. Many miracles were credited to him.
Much of Europe still observes December 5, St. Nicholas Eve; and December 6, Saint Nicholas’s feast day and the supposed day of his death, as holidays. For example, in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Belgium, men in bishops’ robes pose as Saint Nicholas. They visit children, examine them on their prayers, urge them to be good, and give them gifts. This custom probably originated in the legend that Saint Nicholas gave gold to three girls who did not have dowries and so could not marry.
Saint Nicholas evolved into Father Christmas in Germany and Protestant northern Europe. Dutch immigrants brought the tradition of “the visit of Saint Nicholas” to America. The Dutch settlers and their English neighbors transformed Nicholas into the kind and jolly patron of American Christmas. The name Santa Claus comes from Sinterklaas, which is Dutch for Saint Nicholas.
