A Saint for the Season...
by Nicolaa de Bracton of Leicester
Almost everyone knows that St. Nicholas is associated with the
Christmas season, that the name "Santa Claus" itself evolved
from his name. Fewer people know about the historical St. Nicholas or
about the way he was revered in the Middle Ages. Since I have always
thought ofNicholas as my own patron saint (not only because of my
name, but also because of his association with scholars), I set off
to find out a little bit about him.
Nicholas himself is almost legendary. He is supposed to have been
Bishop of Myra (in Asia Minor) around the time of Constantine the
Great (early fourth century). His first mention in literature is in
the reign of Justinian (sixth century). Between these two dates, a
body of oral tradition seems to have formed around Myra's legendary
first bishop and the miracles associated with his tomb, most notably
the fact that the tomb exuded an oil or balm with healing
properties.
Nicholas is associated first of all with the sea. Myra was a
seaport, and the first church there seems to have been built over an
old temple of Poseidon (which, the legend goes, Nicholas is said to
have toppled in dramatic fashion). This aspect made him a favourite
of sailors(who would often throw three loaves of bread overboard in
his honour when they felt a storm brewing), and because Byzantium was
an empire built on sea trade, he became a favourite in Constantinople
as well.
Another early story of legend discusses Nicholas' saving of three
Imperial officials who had been unjustly accused of crimes;
Nicholasis thus the prototype of bishops who uphold the Church in the
face of opposition from State authority-- a fact which would make him
a favourite of reform-minded Popes of the eleventh and twelfth
centuries.
Then there is, of course, the famous story of how Nicholas saved
the three daughters of a poor man from being sold into prostitution
by tossing bags of gold into the windows of their house at night. (In
this way, Nicholas became associated with gift-giving, patronage of
the poor, and, incidentally, of pawnbrokers, who still use the
symbolof three balls of gold to this day.) You will notice the number
three keeps reappearing in Nicholas stories -- many in the Middle
Ages thus associated him with the Trinity, and thus, the defence of
orthodoxy.
A final famous story about Nicholas should be mentioned. He is
said to have resurrected three boys or students, who had been killed
and pickled in a tub (sometimes for as long as seven years) by a
nasty innkeeper. In this way, Nicholas became associated with the
patronage of children and students. His feast day is close to that of
St. Catherine of Alexandria, another patron of scholars, and the two
thus became associated with each other (Nicholas and Catherine was a
favourite pair of names for twins in the Middle Ages.)
In an event mentioned by nearly every major western chronicler,
Nicholas' body and relics were translated (moved) to the Italian city
of Bari in 1087. Thereafter, the cult of Nicholas, heretofore a
mostly Byzantine saint, became more and more popular in the West,
aided, perhaps, by the presence of Russian Varangians in Bari, who
regarded Nicholas as the patron of their own people. Interestingly
enough, the new tomb in Bari also exuded an oil or balm as well.
Nicholas was the subject, along with Catherine, of the earliest
extant mystery plays of the Middle Ages. He also became a favourite
patron of guilds and confraternities, as he was associated both with
helping the poor and with merchants and banking. Because of his
association with students and the poor, he became associated
especially with the Friars Minor (Franciscans); the proper name of
Greyfriars at Oxford is actually the College of St. Nicholas.
In the later Middle Ages, several traditions became associated
with the celebration of St. Nicholas Day (December 6). One of these
was the tradition of the "Boy Bishop", where students in the
schools would choose one of their own to rule them for the Christmas
season, often to delicious excess. Gift-giving would also often be
involved. Many of these traditions also became associated with the
twelve days after Christmas, as gift-giving was also associated with
the New Year, and because of the tradition of the arrival of the Magi
bearing gifts for the Christ Child on January 6. Even after tight
controls were placed on these official celebrations, Nicholas
continued to play apart in less official ones. Often accompanied by
devils or fairies (such as Black Peter), he would visit the homes of
children in the Netherlands, leaving fruits, candies, and
"Nicholas cakes" in the shoes of good children, and bundles of
switches in those of bad children. Mummers' processions often
involved Nicholas as well. Partially as a result of these decidedly
secular observances, Nicholas gradually lost status as one of the
more exalted saints of the Catholic church.
The invention of Santa Claus is another thing altogether. Many of
these customs had died out in Europe by the nineteenth century, only
to be revived by American writers like Washington Irving and Clement
Moore, who reinvented the old saint in a new guise. Nicholas, who had
once rode a white horse like a knight, was now equipped with a
sleighand reindeer, and the sprites who once accompanied him were now
transformed into toymaking elves. This American Santa has traveled
back across the Atlantic in the past hundred years and reawakened the
memories of old customs long forgotten in those countries. But he,
like so many of the "old traditions" we observe, is a product
of the nineteenth century--though his antecedents may certainly be
found in the St. Nicholas of the Middle Ages.
Source:
Charles W. Jones, Saint Nicholas of Myra, Bari, and
Manhattan..Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978.
Copyright 1994 by Susan Carroll-Clark, 53 Thorncliffe Park Dr.
#611, Toronto, Ontario M4H 1L1 CANADA. Permission granted for
republication in SCA-related publications, provided author is
credited and receives a copy.