Santa Claus is based on the real historical figure , a Byzantine bishop born in present-day Turkey, writes Brian Thornton, Senior Lecturer in Journalism at the ¾¢±¬´ó¹Ï. Because of the extraordinary legends and miracles attributed to him he became one of the most
Dutch migrants probably and there the patron saint of children was transformed through into the familiar Santa Claus, or Father Christmas, we know today.
There is the story about St Nicholas that everyone knows – the one about him giving gifts to the poor in the dead of night – the . But there’s another story that is probably less familiar to most of us.
It’s a story about how Nicholas fought against a miscarriage of justice. The story begins when a local businessman goes to see the provincial governor. For reasons that are lost to history, he wants three innocent men, , killed. The governor, a notoriously dishonest man called , is only too happy to help.
The on the life of Nicholas is to be found in the Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca, and believed to be written in the first half of the 9th century by . It suggests that once the bribe had been paid, the men were condemned to death.
Word of what was happening reached Nicholas and he raced to the square. Just as the executioner raised his sword to dispatch the first prisoner, Nicholas threw himself between the executioner and the condemned man. Grabbing the executioner’s arm, he , untied the innocent men and set them free.
Saint Nicholas of Myra saves three innocents from death. ,
He then admonished the governor. When faced with the righteous fury of Nicholas, Eustathios fell to his knees and repented, promising to change his ways, sources suggest.
This is a very different image of St Nicholas than most people are used to in the 21st century. This is not the kind and humble , the proto-Santa Claus. Instead, this is the action hero, the St Nicholas who is not afraid to face down an executioner’s sword.
As bishop of – a coastal town in what is now Turkey – St Nicholas was a leading Christian figure in an empire that was growing more and more concerned about the increasing power of Christianity.
The Roman emperor decided it was time to send out a message. He of any Christian who refused to worship the Roman gods. It unleashed a reign of terror. Nicholas was and tortured. The persecution by Diocletian between eight and ten years.
When Bishop Nicholas was finally freed, . Putting his life on the line for people he had never met could have been simply because he knew what it felt like to be innocent and have your freedom taken away.
And so while the story of St Nicholas secretly handing out should be remembered and eventually become the inspiration for the jolly, rosy-cheeked figure of Santa Claus, there are other aspects to this character.
The ruins of St Nicholas church in the ancient city of Myra.
Nicholas was and so when he gave away his gold it was an act of kindness but nothing that he could not afford. That he chose to do so showed his humility. These were the acts of a compassionate bishop, of a man who would soon become .
And as the centuries passed, the legend of St Nicholas would grow and grow – as would the powers attributed to him. From to appearing to , there seemed to be little that St Nicholas could not do.
He became the of children, women, sailors, , business people and countless European cities. And of course eventually he would become reimagined as .
But there is something about the story of the rescue of the and Nicholas’s fight for justice that stand out against all the embellishments, the Christmas films and the myths. It’s a tale that shows how and why the legend of Nicholas spread across the world.
Pictured top: The statue of St. Nicholas at Myra, Turkey
This article was first published in The Conversation. See more ¾¢±¬´ó¹Ï contributions at
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