Robaird O’Cearbhaill
Hong Kong Correspondent
Who was the man who became Father Christmas, Santa Claus and why? And why does he have two tombs in dispute?
Generally identified with St Nicholas of Myra (270-343 AD), we have to dig back to the legendary story of his charity towards children around Christmas and how his cult began and survived, blossoming into the modern Father Christmas
He earned his reputation as a charitable Bishop of Myra. Even two hundred years later, the 6th century Roman Emperor Justinian I built a church in his honor in the Eastern Empire capital of Constantinople, the Catholic Encyclopedia states. By that time a biography had been written about him.
Many stories, myths and legends and supposed miracles emanate from the cult of the man going back soon after his death. He was entombed on the Myra Cathedral in the Greek-speaking Eastern Roman Empire, in Asia Minor, now Demre in Turkey. The earliest biography seemingly written in the 4th or 5th centuries was lost, but historians used later biographies. By the 6th century his cult was already established.
Modern classical historians state that when the former bishop died, it was decided by the local priests that the first priest to enter their cathedral that morning would be their Bishop. And St Nicholas was the first.
A second story told how he became the secret present giver towards children, at night soon before Christmas – the origin of the idea of Father Christmas. This was according to an early medieval biographer by the name of Michael the Archimandrite.
The story goes that the Bishop heard that a formerly rich man did not take care of his three daughters, and decided to help. Throwing a bag of gold into the man’s house helped the man’s first daughter, who was delighted. Repeating the same actions, the happy man wanted to know who his benefactor was, and waited for two nights until more gold came into his house. Chasing after the Bishop he recognized him. St Nicholas begged him not to reveal the incidents.
As the Catholic Encyclopedia states: “his name occurs in the liturgy ascribed to St Chrysostom (A.D. 344-407). His cult in the Greek Church is old and especially popular in Russia. In Italy his cult seems to have begun with the translation of his relics to Bari, but in Germany it began already under (Holy Roman Emperor 955-983) Otto II, probably because his wife Theophano was a Grecian. Bishop Reginald of Eichstaedt (d. 991) is known to have written a metric, Vita S. Nicholai. The course of centuries has not lessened his popularity. The following places honor him as patron: Greece, Russia, the Kingdom of Naples, Sicily, Lorraine, the Diocese of Liège; many cities in Italy, Germany, Austria, and Belgium; Campen in the Netherlands; Corfu in Greece; Freiburg in Switzerland; and Moscow in Russia.” The crusaders too used his name as a symbol.
But the concept and personality of Father Christmas, while built on the St Nicholas night story, of secret charity to the poor man’s daughters, did not see presents generally given to kids at Christmas until the 19th century. However, Christmas presents had been a habit with adults many hundreds of years before. The beginning of widespread cards and cheap affordable toys allowed children’s presents to be affordable and more popular, and Christmas became more and more highly commercialized.
So, what about the doubts about and mystery behind the two St Nicholas shrine tombs? As Christian Myrna was about to be overrun by Moslem Turks some sailors said they removed the Saint’s remains from the Church to take them to Bari, Italy. They remain there in the Basilica di San Nicola. However, Turkey disputed whether the correct body was taken and demanded that the remains be returned.
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