One of the many depictions of St. Nicholas
Christmas is getting very close, so I decided to do a little research on Santa Claus. I was curious as to how he fell into the mix of our Christmas celebration. I also wondered if there was a deeper meaning to the “jolly old elf,” than just bringing gifts to good girls and boys.
You guessed it! He has a beautiful back story. It was a long time ago, so much is considered legend, but here’s what I found consistently. Nicholas was born in the 3rd century in what is now the southern coast of Turkey. It was Greek at the time. His parents were quite wealthy and they were devout Christians and raised him to love Jesus.
They died in an epidemic while we was still very young. He decided to follow Jesus as closely as possible and is said to have given all of his inheritance away to the needy and sick people who lived in his village of Myra. The people were so impressed with his generosity and his faith walk that they requested that he be made Bishop of Myra. Nicholas became a bishop at a very young age.
One of his most famous stories of generosity was to three poor girls with no dowry. Back in that time, if a girl had nothing to give to a future husband, no one would marry her and she would be sold into slavery or prostitution. When it came time for the oldest daughter to marry, a bag of gold was found in her socks that were hanging out to dry. The same thing happened with the second daughter. The father just had to know who the secret benefactor was, so he hid and caught Nicholas while he was placing the gold in the third daughter’s sock.
The father was very thankful, but Nicholas swore him to secrecy, so the story was never told until after his death. That’s where hanging up the stockings by the chimney comes from.
Nicholas was also known to be especially kind to children and sailors and there are many stories about him offering aid to them. He was imprisoned by Emperor Diocletian who ruthlessly persecuted Christians for their faith. Nicholas refused to renounce his faith and so he was imprisoned with many other priests and bishops. Constantine set Nicholas free when he came to power.
Do you remember who is credited with teaching Constantine about Jesus? Yep, his mama, Helena. Never underestimate the power of a faithful mama.
Nicholas died on December 6th in 343 AD in Myra. He became a celebrated saint very quickly and thousands of churches were named after him. During the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther frowned on anything to do with saints and he fell out of favor. But, the Dutch refused to let him go. They called him Sinter Klass and they brought him with them as they emigrated to America in the 1700’s.
He still wasn’t huge until 1882 when a poet named Clement Clarke Moore wrote a poem anonymously called, “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” The poem went viral and we know it today as “The Night Before Christmas.” In 1881, a cartoonist named Thomas Nast, gave him a red suit with white trim and our modern Santa Claus was born.
But, I think it’s awe-inspiring that his roots are what Christians should all strive for, loving God, being generous, taking care of those less fortunate than we are and standing up for what we believe in. We could all use a little more Nicholas. Now you know!
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂