The People's Saint (Nicholas of Myra)

The People’s Saint

6 December 2023
5:30 pm Advent Home Mass

The Parish Church of St. Mark, Medford Oregon

The Rev. Fr. Tony Hutchinson, SCP, Ph.D.

1 John 4:7-14; Ps 145:8-13; Mark 10:13-16 

 

Nicholas of Myra (6 December A.D. 343)

Almighty God, in your love you gave your servant Nicholas of Myra a perpetual name for deeds of kindness both on land and sea: Grant, we pray, that your Church may never cease to work for the happiness of children, the safety of sailors, the relief of the poor, and the help of those tossed by tempests of doubt or grief; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

What Saint combines themes from Crime Scene Investigation television series, the Father Brown and Grantchester mysteries, Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Worldwide Wrestling Federation and the Ultimate Fight Club?  Might it help if I said we most often link him with The Miracle on 42^nd Street? 

 

Nicholas was Bishop of Myra (in modern-day Turkey), and died 6 December 343 CE.  He is known to have suffered torture and imprisonment during the persecution under the Emperor Diocletian, and likely was one of the holy fathers attending the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325, which sought to resolve the Athanasian and Arian controversy over the nature of Christ's divinity.

Manifold popular legends about Nicholas, whose name in Greek means "Victory to the People," ensured that he would be seen as an intercessor for those in need of help, especially children and the exploited.

One story recounts that during a terrible famine, a greedy and wicked butcher lures three young boys into his house, where he slaughters and butchers them, putting their body parts in a barrel of brine to cure, hoping to make hams for sale.  Saint Nicholas, arriving to care for his hungry flock, immediately recognizes what has happened:  Father Brown and Granchester rolled up into one.  He then proceeds miraculously to reconstitute, reconstruct, and raise from the dead the three boys, bringing the Sweeney Todd-like butcher to repentance in one version, or a horrible and just punishment and death in another.

In the most well-known legend,  a man has three daughters whom he cannot marry off because he is too poor to pay a dowry, and in desperation is on the point of having the girls become prostitutes as a means of providing money for their food.  Nicholas, hearing the tale, arrives by night (to save the man public humiliation of accepting assistance) and throws three bags of gold, or three coins, over the wall to provide the girls with dowries.  The three bags have become the three spheres marking pawn shops, and the night-visiting savior of children or giver of gifts has become Sinterklaas or Santa Claus, thus The Miracle on 42^nd Street. 

In another story, the Bishop asks for grain from a ship in port to help feed the starving city.  When the ship finally arrives at its destination, the original weight of the grain is still in the holds, despite the substantial gift. 

 

Some legends say that Nicholas was a professional boxer—the UFC and WWF link—before he became a priest.  A couple of decades ago when his relics were examined by forensic scientists—the CSI link—they determined that his nose had been broken repeatedly, a wound that supports this otherwise dubious tradition.  

 

Connected with this image of a passionate, manly man called to ministry later in life, is the story of his misadventures at the Council of Nicaea.  Nicholas is agitated at Arius’ speeches.   Finally, he can stand it no longer. He gets up, crosses the room, and slaps Arius across the face! In some versions, he delivers him a broad roundhouse punch and lays him out cold.  The bishops and the emperor, shocked, put Nicholas in jail and take away his vestments, expecting to excommunicate him after the council ends.  He is ashamed and asks for forgiveness, but they lock him up anyway.  But that night, the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus appear to Nicholas in his cell, and give him new episcopal vestments.  This convinces the jailers, and then later the bishops and Constantine, that Nicholas had not acted from anger or a lack of control, but rather to defend the truth.  So they forgive Nicholas, and decide against Arius.  At least, that’s how this story goes.

 

Nicholas is thus the patron and protector of sailors and children, as well as merchants, archers, students, thieves, prostitutes, and—perhaps through reputational transference from these last two—broadcasters.  He is patron of Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Georgia, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Portugal.  And though St. Sebastian is the patron saint of all athletes, Nicholas is held by boxers—at least those who think about such things—as their special protector.  

 

St. Nicholas has always been dear to me, but today even more so.  Two years ago on this St. Nicholas day, my beloved Elena died after 10 years of wretched disabling decline. I thought at the time that it would ruin the day for me forever.  But I soon came to see it as a gift from the Saint. Elena died exactly as she wanted—she went down for a nap and never woke up. It was an end to her sufferings.  I came to appreciate the truth in what St. Francis of Assisi just before his own death wrote: Sister Death, one of God's creatures, is also a blessing and mystery, along with Mother Earth, Father Sun, the rushing waters, the burning fire.  After Elena’s death, I now see St. Nicholas all the more as a giver of God’s gifts. 

 

The take-away I have from all this:  Saints come in different shapes, sizes, and flavors.  Nicholas is loved, but isn’t at times particularly loveable.  Living the love of Christ, and being passionate for following Christ is something that doesn’t make you perfect.  But it will make you loved.