Biographical note

Nicholas was a bishop of Myra in Lycia in the third and fourth centuries, and likely attended the First Council of Nicea in 325. His alleged relics were stolen by Italian merchants in 1087 and now are enshrined at Bari. He is venerated as the patron saint of sailors, of captives, and especially of children. The last mentioned veneration derives from the story that he raised to life three children who had been pickled in a brine-tub. Numerous medieval observances were connected with this saint, for example, that of Santa Claus (from Sanctus Nicolaus), and the ceremony of the boy-bishop which still survives at Montserrat in Catalonia. Saint Nicholas is a patron saint of Russia.

(paraphrased from The Book of Saints : A Dictionary of Persons Canonized or Beatified by the Catholic Church. 5th edition. New York: Crowell, 1966.)

Alternate names

Nicholas of Myra, Nicholas of Bari

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