Saint Nicholas - abbey

   Saint Nicholas

   from patron of seafarers to ...Santa Klaus!!

   Saint Nicholas was born in Patara (present-day Turkey) into a rich family. He was the Bishop of Myra in the fourth century AD. and was buried there.

   In 1087 his body and his presumed treasure were stolen by Italian crusader knights. His body was left in Bari and Saint Nicholas became the protector saint of that city. Dante speaks about him in the Purgatorio (XX 31-33).

   The most ancient legend about Saint Nicholas had to undergo some slight changes in order to make it more suitable for children, but it went like this: a fallen nobleman in a precarious financial situation decided to make his three daughters go into prostitution because, among other things, he had no money to give them dowries.

   　When Nicholas learned about this, he promised to help them all. For two consecutive nights he threw a bag of gold coins into the girls' house. On the third day he found the windows closed and so he went down the chimney to get the bag into the house. There were stockings hanging on the chimney and so he filled them with gold coins.

   In the people's imagination Saint Nicholas become "the bearer of gifts" on the night of December 6th (the feast of St. Nicholas), and later on Christmas night.

   Devotion to Saint Nicholas, which was widespread in Northern Europe, was later brought to America by Dutch immigrants. In Dutch, the saint was called "Sinter Klass", but in the United States, he became known as "Santa Klaus".

   During his stay in Bari, according to legend, he saved the lives of several seafarers and for this reason was venerated as the patron of seafarers. Saint Nicholas also protected fishers, and in Central Europe, ferrymen. He watched over bridges and gave protection from floods.