The History Room
Christmas approaches, so Whatever Happened to Saint Nicholas?
How did a fourth-century, heretic-slapping bishop from Southern Turkey wind up being a fat, Coca-Cola-swigging American elf?
Saint Nicholas was born into a wealthy Christian family in the third century. His parents died in a plague, and having inherited the family fortune, he decided to obey the radical call of Christ and give it to the poor. So he became famous for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.
Bishop Nicholas was exiled and imprisoned during the persecutions under the Emperor Diocletian, and after his release, attended the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 where he famously lost his temper and slapped the heretic Arius in the face. He died December 6, AD 343 in Myra and was buried in his cathedral church. Legends grew up about his generosity, and throughout the Middle Ages he became one of the most popular and wonder-working saints across Europe.
...St. Nicholas travelled well because, among other things, he was the patron saint of seafarers....
The Protestant revolutionaries were not enthusiastic about saints, but the celebrations around St. Nicholas’ Day were so popular that they had trouble stamping them out completely....
The popular version of the narrative is that the Dutch brought St. Nicholas Day customs to the new world. However historians disagree and suggest that it was German immigrants in Pennsylvania who kept the feast of St. Nicholas. They were the “Pennsylvania Dutch”—the “Dutch” meaning “Deutsch” or “German” rather than the Dutch from the Netherlands....
...“John Pintard, the influential patriot and antiquarian who founded the New York Historical Society in 1804, promoted St. Nicholas as patron saint of both society and city. In January 1809, Washington Irving joined the society and on St. Nicholas Day that same year, he published Knickerbocker’s History of New York, with humorous references to a jovial St. Nicholas.”
Irving’s St. Nicholas was not an Eastern Orthodox bishop, but a mischievous Dutchman with a clay pipe....
The idea caught on. Eleven years later publisher William B. Gilley brought out Sante Claus, The Children’s Friend....
Two years later the new St. Nicholas mythology was consolidated with the hugely popular poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, now known as The Night Before Christmas....
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Originally Posted by RMNIXON
