MEMORIAL OF SAINT NICHOLAS, BISHOP OF MYRA ~ FEAST DAY ~ DECEMBER 6TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and Saint Nicholas during this special season of Advent, we humbly pray for God’s grace and mercy as we prepare for the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Praying for hope, faith, love, joy and peace in our world today, as we face these incredibly challenging times. We pray for God’s deliverance from impossible causes or situations. We pray for all children, the sick and dying, especially sick children, those who are mentally and physically ill, strokes, heart diseases, and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. Amen🙏
SAINT NICHOLAS, BISHOP OF MYRA: St. Nicholas (270 – 343 A.D.) also known as Saint Nicholas of Myra and Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Lycia Asia Minor (modern-day Demre, Turkey) during the time of the Roman Empire. Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. St. Nicholas is associated with Christmas because of the tradition that he had the custom of giving secret gifts to children. It is also conjectured that the saint, who was known to wear red robes and have a long white beard, was culturally converted into the large man with a reindeer-drawn sled full of toys because in German, his name is “San Nikolaus” which almost sounds like “Santa Claus.” In the East, he is known as St. Nicholas of Myra for the town in which he was bishop. But in the West he is called St. Nicholas of Bari because, during the Muslim conquest of Turkey in 1087, his relics were taken to Bari by the Italians. His reputation evolved among the pious, as was common for early Christian saints, and his legendary habit of secret gift-giving gave rise to the traditional model of Santa Claus (“Saint Nick”) through Sinterklaas. St. Nicholas of Myra is more than just the inspiration for the modern day Santa. He practiced both the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. He was generous, strove to help the poor and disadvantaged, and worked tirelessly to defend the faith. His legends of generosity and a slip of the tongue from other languages has made St. Nicholas or Sinterklaas into today’s Santa Claus.
Saint Nicholas was born in the last years of the third century in Asia Minor on March 15, 270. He was the only child of a wealthy Greek Christian couple living in what is today the country of Turkey. He was a pious child, and upon the death of his parents St. Nicholas was raised by an uncle who was a bishop. St. Nicholas grew in holiness, was ordained to the priesthood, and eventually consecrated a bishop. His uncle, the archbishop of Myra in Lycia, ordained him and appointed him abbot of a nearby monastery. At the death of the archbishop, St. Nicholas was chosen to fill the vacancy, and he served in this position until his death on December 6, 343 AD. He was famous for generosity to the poor, protection of the wronged, zeal against heresy, and performance of miracles. About the time of the persecutions of Diocletian, St. Nicholas was imprisoned for preaching Christianity but was released during the reign of Emperor Constantine. It is said that he suffered for the Faith under Diocletian, and that he was present at the Council of Nicaea as an opponent of Arianism. St. Nicholas prevailed against the heretic bishop Arius; he was also instrumental in defending the doctrine of Jesus’ divinity and formulating the Nicene Creed.
Popular legends have involved Saint Nicholas in a number of charming stories, one of which relates St. Nicholas’ charity toward the poor. A man of Patara had lost his fortune, and finding himself unable to support his three maiden daughters, was planning to turn them into the streets as prostitutes. St. Nicholas heard of the man’s intentions and secretly threw three bags of gold through a window into the home, thus providing dowries for the daughters. St. Nicholas’ secretly tossed bags of coins into their home served as the girls’ dowry, thus enabling them to marry and be provided for. The money was said to have landed in their stockings drying by the fireplace, which is the origin of gifts in children’s stockings and shoes at Christmastime. The three bags of gold mentioned in this story are said to be the origin of the three gold balls that form the emblem of pawnbrokers. After St. Nicholas’ death in 343, his body was buried in the cathedral at Myra. It remained there until 1087, when seamen of Bari, an Italian coastal town, seized the relics of the saint and transferred them to their own city. Veneration for St. Nicholas had already spread throughout Europe as well as Asia, but this occurrence led to a renewal of devotion in the West. Countless miracles were attributed to the saint’s intercession. His relics are still preserved in the church of San Nicola in Bari; the Basilica of St. Nicholas in Italy. An oily substance, known as Manna di S. Nicola, which is highly valued for its medicinal powers, is said to flow from them. On his feast day they emit a miraculous myrrh, which is distributed around the world.
Many countries have the custom of making St. Nicholas the secret giver of gifts to children on his feast day. In the United States, for example, he is celebrated as “Santa Claus,” who distributes gifts to children on Christmas Eve. St. Nicholas should be seen as a saint, a confessor of the faith and the bishop of Myra — not merely as a jolly man from the North Pole who brings happiness to small children. St. Nicholas of Myra is honored as the Patron Saint of many causes, professions, cities, and countries; but he is most notably the patron of children, sailors, prisoners, and maidens seeking to marry. Many countries and locations honor St. Nicholas as patron: Greece, the Kingdom of Naples, Sicily, Lorraine, and many cities in Italy, Germany, Austria, and Belgium and with Saint Andrew he is honored as the co-patron of Russia. St. Nicholas has always been honored with great veneration in the Latin and Greek Churches. The Russian Church seems to honor him more than any other Saint after the Apostles. St. Nicholas is the Patron Saint of children, students, against imprisonment; against robberies; sex workers; apothecaries; bakers; barrel makers; boatmen; boot blacks; boys; brewers; brides; captives; coopers; dock workers; druggists; fishermen; grooms; judges; lawsuits lost unjustly; longshoremen; maidens; mariners; merchants; murderers; newlyweds; old maids; parish clerks; paupers; pawnbrokers; perfumeries; perfumers; pharmacists; pilgrims; poor people; prisoners; sailors; scholars; schoolchildren; shoe shiners; spinsters; students; repentant thieves; travellers; unmarried girls; watermen; Greek Catholic Church in America; Greek Catholic Union; Bari, Italy; Fossalto, Italy; Duronia, Italy; Portsmouth, England; Greece; Lorraine; Russia; Sicily. St. Nicholas’ feast day is December 6th.
SAINT NICHOLAS’ QUOTE: “The giver of every good and perfect gift has called upon us to mimic God’s giving, by grace, through faith, and this is not of ourselves.”
PRAYER TO SAINT NICHOLAS: O good Saint Nicholas, you who are the joy of the children, put in my heart the spirit of childhood, of which the Gospel speaks, and teach me to seed happiness around me. You, whose feast prepares us for Christmas, open my faith to the mystery of God made man. You, good bishop and shepherd, help me to find my place in the Church and inspire the Church to be faithful to the gospel. O good Saint Nicholas, patron of children, sailors, and the helpless, watch over those who pray to Jesus, your Lord and theirs, as well as over those who humble themselves before you. Bring us all in reverence to the Holy Child of Bethlehem, where true joy and peace are found. Amen🙏
PRAYER TO SAINT NICHOLAS DURING ADVENT: Good St Nicholas, Help us prepare for the miracle of the coming of Jesus. Help us not to be blind to the gifts of getting ready. Help us be sincere in the greetings we send and receive, with love and prayer. Kind St. Nicholas, protect us from shoppers’ fatigue, stress, overspending, yet help us to be kind and generous of heart to all, especially those who are alone, financially poor and fearful. May our celebration of your feast lead others to see the true meaning of giving and receiving and to guide all people to the greatest of all gifts, even Jesus Christ, prince of peace and child of Mary, Our Lord and only savior. Amen🙏
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we implore Your love and mercy to protect us from all danger. Through the prayer of Saint Nicholas lead us to salvation by paths that are swift and sure. We pray this in the most precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen🙏