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Show Real Santa Clans A Youthful Saint The name of Santa Claus is merely mere-ly slurring the Dutch San Nicholas, which is, of course, St. Nicholas. American children are probably the only ones who say it exactly that way. Nicholas was an actual person. He was Bishop of Myra, in Lycia, Asia Minor, in the first part of the fourth century. He was also the youngest bishop in the history of the church. From the day of his birth Nicholas Nicho-las revealed his piety and grace. He refused on fast days to take the natural nourishment of a child. But Nicholas was not a barefoot recluse vowed to poverty. His father fa-ther was a wealthy merchant, and his riches enabled him to be a dispenser dis-penser of the good things of life. The feast of St. Nicholas was originally celebrated on December 6. Later, when church people in the late Middle Ages tried to suppress the festivities which grew up around the Boy Saint's day, his festival came to be associated with Christmas day. |
