Feast Day: December 6
One of the most popular medieval saints, both in the Eastern Church and the Church in the West, was Nicholas of Myra. Nearly nothing is known of his life aside from his being a Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor during the 4lh century. This, however, has not prevented the creation of a multitude of legends or readings, to supply the need for a colorful life of the saint. Although Myra is the site of Nicholas’ episcopate, Bari in Northern Italy is the place where his reputed remains lie, the result of the theft from his tomb by Italian merchants in 1087 in order to provide a pilgrimage center where miracles could take place through the saint’s intercession. Venice procured the relics of Saint Mark by a similar theft from Alexandria in 468 for the honor attached to the shrine of an evangelist and securing his patronage. Such pilfering is often given the euphemistic name of translation and celebrated by a special feast day commemorating the transferal.
(Image: The medieval stone sculpture of Saint Nicholas located in the upper floor of the narthex in the Portsmouth Abbey Church was given to the monastery shortly before the construction of the church by the Hearst Foundation. On his feast day a lighted candle is placed before his statue, burning from dawn till dusk, calling to mind the donor and to show our veneration to the beloved saint.)
In the legend of “The Miracle of the Golden Cup” a man and his wife are seen thanking the saint for granting his prayer for a son, who presents the seated bishop with a golden chalice. The companion panel portrays an innkeeper and his wife on the verge of murdering three schoolboys as they sleep in their bed before the timely intervention of Saint Nicholas. Many of the miracles wrought by the saint concern children for whom he is the patron. The most famous of Nicholas’ legends is his provision of dowries for three girls by tossing bags of gold through a window, in this way saving them from a life of shame. The presence of three balls over a pawn shop stem from this legend, and he is regarded as the patron of pawnbrokers. This also accounts for Nicholas’ association with giving presents on December 6, his feast day, or at Christmas in the popular figure of Santa Claus, deriving from the Dutch form of the word, Sinte Klaas.
(Text is taken from one of Fr. Damian's reflections)