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Saint / - a brief history

St. Nicholas was born in 280 AD, in , a city of , in present day . A wealthy man, he became famous and renowned as a -giver. His were given late at night, so that the gift giver's identity would remain a secret.

St. Nicholas was a Christian priest, who later became of . He travelled the country helping people who were in need and giving gifts of money and other presents. St. Nicholas did not like to be seen when he gave away presents, so the children of the day were told to go to sleep quickly or he would not visit!

One famous story about St. Nicholas tells of a poor man who had no money to give to his three daughters on their wedding day. St Nicholas dropped bags of gold into the stockings which the girls had left by the fire to dry. The sisters found the gold and, ever since, children have hung up stockings on Eve hoping that they will be filled with presents the next morning.

Despite being quite young, Nicholas earned a reputation for kindliness and wisdom. In the year 303, the Roman emperor commanded all the citizens of the , which included his town of Lycia, to worship him as a god.

Christians believed in one god and one god alone, so their conscience would not allow them to obey the Emperor's order. Angered by their stubbornness, Diocletian warned the Christians that they would be imprisoned. The Emperor carried out the threat and St Nicholas, who defiantly refused to worship the emperor, was also imprisoned. For over five years, St. Nicholas was confined to a small cell. He suffered from cold, hunger, and thirst, but he never wavered in his beliefs. In 313, when Diocletian resigned, and Constantine came to power, Nicholas was released and he returned to his post as Bishop of Myra. He continued his good works and, by the time of his death on 6 th 343, had become even wiser and kinder.

After his death, St. Nicholas was recognized as a saint and he quickly became the of children, with many legends springing up to explain his continuing presence in the world. Many Churches in Asia Minor and were named after him in his honour.

By end of the 1400s, St. Nicholas was the third most beloved religious figure, after and Mary. By then there were more than 2,000 chapels and named after him.

In the 1500s (at the time of the Protestant Reformation) people in England stopped praying to St. Nicholas and favored, instead, another non-religious gift-giving figure - .

Despite this, over the centuries, St. Nicholas' popularity grew, and many people across Europe made up new stories that showed his concern for children. The name Santa Claus was derived from the Dutch Sinter Klass pronunciation of St. Nicholas. Early Dutch settlers in New York (once called New ) brought with them their traditions of St. Nicholas. As children from other countries tried to pronounce Sinter Klass , this soon became Santa Klass and, finally, Santa Claus. The old bishop's cloak with , jewelled gloves and crozier were soon replaced with the more familiar red suit and clothing of the present day Santa Claus .

Some sixteen hundred years after he lived, the Feast Day of St. Nicholas of Myra is celebrated throughout the world on December 6 th – the anniversary of his death in 345. He is today the patron saint of children as well as being the patron saint of and Greece.