St Nicholas – the Saint who (maybe) inspired Santa Claus

First published in the December 4, 2022 Bulletin of St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, Delray Beach, FL

December 6 is the feast day of St. Nicholas, a Greek who was the Bishop of what was then Myra in Asia Minor, across the Mediterranean Sea from Alexandria. He was born in in the year 270 A.D. and died in 343 A.D. Most of what we know about him is based on tradition, and it’s not always easy to figure out what the  facts are. Some records even give different first names for his parents.

A famous story of St. Nicholas helping others is when he secretly helped a man who had lost all his money, so that the man’s three daughters would not have to take jobs that were not suitable for Christians.

There is another story about St. Nicholas that happened during a famine, when food was very scarce. A ship delivering wheat to the Emperor docked in Myra. St. Nicholas asked that sailors to leave some of the wheat for the people. The sailors were afraid of what would happen if the Emperor found out. St. Nicholas promised they would not get into trouble. The sailors unloaded enough wheat to feed the people for two years, and even to plant more for the following years. When the rest of the wheat was delivered to the Emperor, it still weighed the amount it had before the sailors gave the wheat to St. Nicholas!

There are many other stories about St. Nicholas, and legends about St. Nicholas became popular in many places, including Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovak, Ukraine, and Belgium. In these places, children leave out their shoes the night before the Feast of St. Nicholas in the hope that he will leave them a small gift, perhaps candy or an orange, when he comes to visit.

Some people think that St. Nicholas inspired Santa Claus to make his visits every year at Christmas. St. Nicholas gave gifts to the poor because he loved Jesus and did his best to follow him. Santa Claus brings gifts to celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas.

This year, remember that the reason for Christmas is to celebrate the greatest gift of all: the gift of Jesus, given to us by God, to save us from sin.