How did we get from St. Nicholas to Santa Claus? It’s a challenge to separate truth from fiction when it comes to ole’ St. Nick. This is what we know with relative certainty. Nicholas (270-343) was a church bishop in Myra (modern Turkey) during a momentous period in church history. Christians were still a persecuted minority in the Roman Empire and often came under intense persecution for their faith. Nicholas’ care for people became well-known. He was not merely a benign gift giver but was present at the Council of Nicaea that produced the Nicene Creed in AD 325 and denounced Arius’ heretical beliefs about Jesus. (The story that he punched Arius in the nose for his heresy is a product of medieval folklore.)
While there are numerous legends associated with him, one story endures with historical credibility. Nicholas’ parents died in a plague and left him a sizable inheritance. He used the money to help a father who couldn’t afford marriage dowries for his three daughters. By remaining unmarried, his daughters would have little means of support and could resort to less honorable means of employment. Nicholas learned of their predicament but was too modest to overtly help them. Instead, under the cover of darkness, he threw a bag of gold coins into the open window of their home, enabling the father to pay the marriage dowry for his eldest daughter. Nicholas returned a second time, heaving another sack of coins into the house, making the marriage of the second daughter possible. The father, now on the lookout, caught Nicholas in the same generous act for his third daughter and thanked him profusely. This story about a nocturnal benefactor bestowing secret gifts on people fueled people’s imaginations and legends about him grew over time.
The Dutch who settled in New York City in the early 1800s introduced this gift-giving St. Nicholas to the American public. He became dressed and commercialized in typical western fashion and the rest, as they say, is history. Given the turbulent times in which Nicholas lived, nothing written by him survives. A fourth century contemporary of Nicholas, Sulpicius Severus, serves as his stand-in for prayer: