St. Nicholas: One of the popular saints in Christendom

St. Nicholas

One of the most popular saints in Christendom, especially in the East. He was the patron saint of Russia, of Aberdeen, of parish clerks, of scholars (who used to be called clerks), of pawnbrokers (because of the three bags of gold--transformed to the three gold balls--that he gave to the daughters of a poor man to save them from earning their dowers in a disreputable way), and of little boys (because he once restored to life three little boys who had been cut up and pickled in a salting-tub to serve for bacon). He is invoked by sailors (because he allayed a storm during a voyage to the Holy Land) and against fire. Finally, he is the original of Santa Claus.

Little is known of his life, but he is said to have been Bishop of Myra ( Lycia) in the early 4th century. One story relates that he was present at the Council of Nice ( 325) and there buffeted Arius on the jaw. His day is December 6, and he is represented in episcopal robes with three purses of gold, three gold balls, or three small boys, in allusion to one of the above legends.

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