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Topic: Saint Nicholas Day

	Saint Nicholas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Saint Nicholas, also known as Nikolaus in Germany and Sinterklaas (a contracted form of Sint Nicolaas) in the Netherlands and Flanders, is the common name for the historical Saint Nicholas of Myra, who lived in 4th century Byzantine Lycia, (modern Turkey), and had a reputation for secret gift-giving.
		Saint Nicholas is revered by many as the patron saint of seamen, merchants, archers, children, prostitutes, pharmacists, lawyers and prisoners and of Russia and Amsterdam.
		Nicholas was born in Asia Minor during the 4th century at Patara in the province of Lycia, at a time when the region was Hellenistic in its culture and outlook.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Saint_Nicholas (4066 words)

	Saint Nicholas -- Facts, Info, and Encyclopedia article (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-07)
		St Nicholas is usually portrayed as a (A clergyman having spiritual and administrative authority; appointed in Christian churches to oversee priests or ministers; considered in some churches to be successors of the twelve apostles of Christ) Bishop, in whatever manner is appropriate for a Bishop in that particular Church’s practices.
		For his helping the "financially challenged", St. Nicholas is the (A saint who is considered to be a defender of some group or nation) patron saint of pawnbrokers; the three gold balls traditionally hung outside a pawnshop are symbolic of the three sacks of gold.
		The history of the festive Saint Nicholas celebration is complex and reflects conflicts between (The theological system of any of the churches of western Christendom that separated from the Roman Catholic Church during the Reformation) Protestantism and (The beliefs and practices of a Catholic Church) Catholicism.
	www.absoluteastronomy.com /encyclopedia/s/sa/saint_nicholas.htm (3949 words)

	Domestic-Church.Com: Saint Profile: Saint Nicholas
		Nicholas, whose feast day is December 6, is the patron of seafarers, scholars, bankers, pawnbrokers, jurists, brewers, coopers, travelers, perfumers, unmarried girls, brides, and - robbers.
		Nicholas was quite young when his parents died of the plague leaving him the sole heir of their vast possessions.
		Nicholas was thereafter honored as patron saint of unwed maidens.
	www.domestic-church.com /CONTENT.DCC/19981101/SAINTS/nicholas.htm (1785 words)

	CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope Saint Nicholas I
		On 24 April Nicholas was elected pope, and on the same day was consecrated and enthroned in St.
		Three days after, he gave a farewell banquet to the emperor, and afterward, accompanied by the Roman nobility, visited him in his camp before the city, on which occasion the emperor came to meet the pope and led his horse for some distance.
		Pope Nicholas appeared as a conscientious representative of the Roman Primacy in the Church.
	www.newadvent.org /cathen/11054a.htm (1278 words)

	The real story of St. Nick \| Friday, Dec. 14, 2001 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-07)
		Saint Nicholas was born in A.D. 280 in Patara, a city in Asia Minor, or what is now known as Turkey.
		Saint Nicholas was disturbed by the state of this family and decided to help.
		Saint Nicholas is also honored as the patron saint of children and the patron saint of Russia.
	biblicalrecorder.org /content/news/2001/12_14_2001/ne141201the.shtml (635 words)

	St.Nicholas
		The Day of Saint Nicholas is a great winter festival celebrated by all Bulgarians on 6 December.
		This Saint is the protector of sailors and fishermen.
		Saint Nicholas is the patron of not only those who bear his name, he is also a personal or family protector; on his day a special, family lineage festival, called service, prayer or church, is arranged.
	www.omda.bg /engl/cook/Nikulden.htm (1688 words)

	MSN Encarta - Saint Nicholas
		Nicholas, Saint (lived 4th century), Christian prelate, patron saint of Russia, traditionally associated with Christmas celebrations.
		Nicholas entered the nearby monastery of Sion and subsequently became archbishop of the metropolitan church in Myra, Lycia.
		Nicholas is the patron saint of children, scholars, virgins, sailors, and merchants, and in the Middle Ages (5th century to 15th century) he was regarded by thieves as their patron saint as well.
	encarta.msn.com /encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761574698 (260 words)

	Saint Nicholas (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-07)
		Saint Nicholas (270-310) was at one time bishop of Myra, a town in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey).
		The feast of Saint Nicholas was abolished in some European countries after the Protestant reformation of the XVIth century.
		Saint Nicholas henceforth made his rounds of Christian families during the night of December 24.
	www.culture.gouv.fr /culture/noel/angl/stnico.htm (227 words)

	Catholic Online
		At intervals Nicholas did the same for the second and third; at the last time the father was on the watch, recognized his benefactor and overwhelmed him with his gratitude.
		Nicholas is venerated as the patron saint of several classes of people, especially, in the East, of sailors and in the West of children.
		At Rome the basilica of St. Nicholas in the Jail of Tully (in Carcere) was founded between the end of the sixth and the beginning of the seventh centuries.
	www.catholic.org /saints/saint.php?saint_id=371 (1723 words)

	A Saint A Day
		Francis Xavier was proclaimed a saint by Pope Gregory XV in 1622.
		Nicholas is the patron of sailors and prisoners.
		She was proclaimed a saint by Pope John Paul II on December 9, 1990.
	www.daughtersofstpaul.com /saintday/m12.html (10167 words)

	Saint Nicholas (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-07)
		Remembered for his special love of children, Saint Nicholas is the subject of many legends of philanthropy.
		Saint Nicholas was a virtuous man who was known for his charity and philanthropic spirit.
		Today, Saint Nicholas Feast Day is celebrated as a children's holiday in many countries throughout the world and honors human kindness that helps build every community.
	www.volunteermemphis.org /saintnick.htm (175 words)

	Saint Nicholas Day (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-07)
		Saint Nicholas is generous not only with the children, but the adults, too.
		Nicholas threw three golden balls or bags of gold through the window of their house and withdrew unseen, thereby saving them from their fate.
		He is patron saint of sailors and of children, and also the origin of Father Christmas- Santa Claus being a derivative of St Nicholas- an identification probably derived from his patronage of children and his charitable acts of presenting gifts by night.
	www.european-schoolprojects.net /festivals/Romania/nicolae.html (351 words)

	Saint Nicholas at opensource encyclopedia (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-07)
		Some elements of the Saint Nicholas tradition are traced back to the Germanic god Wodan (Odin).
		The history of the Saint Nicholas celebration is complex and reflects the conflicts between Protestantism and Catholicism (ignoring the very different traditions surrounding the saint among Orthodox Christians).
		Since Nicholas was a Catholic saint, Martin Luther replaced the Catholic festivity with a "Christkind" (Christ child) celebration on Christmas Eve.
	wiki.tatet.com /Saint_Nicholas.html (1717 words)

	St. Nicholas Day
		Saint Nicholas was renowned for his great kindness and his generous aid to those in distress.
		In some households the father of the family may dress up as Saint Nicholas on the eve of his feast.
		These cookies especially when baked in the form of Saint Nicholas are fun to paint with colored icing.
	www.wf-f.org /st.nicholas.html (1140 words)

	CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Nicholas of Myra
		Though he is one of the most popular saints in the Greek as well as the Latin Church, there is scarcely anything historically certain about him except that he was Bishop of Myra in the fourth century.
		The numerous miracles St. Nicholas is said to have wrought, both before and after his death, are outgrowths of a long tradition.
		His relics are still preserved in the church of San Nicola in Bari; up to the present day an oily substance, known as Manna di S. Nicola, which is highly valued for its medicinal powers, is said to flow from them.
	www.newadvent.org /cathen/11063b.htm (372 words)

	CzechChristmas
		Saint Barbara's Day, December 4, just two days before Saint Nicholas Day, December 6 was celebrated by a group called, "Barbara Girls".
		Saint Nicholas reads the names of the good children and the bad children.
		However, the bad children beg for forgiveness and Saint Nicholas tells the angel to give these children some fruit and candy.
	www.czechheritage.org /CountyPages/czechchristmas.html (1524 words)

	St. Nicholas - Saint of the Day - American Catholic
		As with many of the saints, however, we are able to capture the relationship which Nicholas had with God through the admiration which Christians have had for him—an admiration expressed in the colorful stories which have been told and retold through the centuries.
		Perhaps the best-known story about Nicholas concerns his charity toward a poor man who was unable to provide dowries for his three daughters of marriageable age.
		In the English-speaking countries, St. Nicholas became, by a twist of the tongue, Santa Claus—further expanding the example of generosity portrayed by this holy bishop.
	www.americancatholic.org /Features/SaintOfDay?id=1221 (417 words)

	Holidays and Festivals - St Nicholas to St Rose (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-07)
		This is one of several days on which the superstitious believe the weather can be predicted.
		The flames, forming themselves like the sails of a ship swelled with the wind, gently encircled the body of the martyr, which stood in the middle, resembling not burning flesh but bread that is being baked or precious metal refined: And there was a fragrance like the smell of incense.
		Prisca was thirteen years old on this day when she was decapited after four days of torture for refusing to denouce Christ.
	www.shagtown.com /days/s5.html (529 words)

	Patron Saints Index: Saint Nicholas of Tolentino
		His middle-aged parents, Compagnonus de Guarutti and Amata de Guidiani, were childless until a prayerful visit to a shrine of the original Saint Nicholas at Bari, Italy.
		A vegetarian, Nicholas was once served a roasted fowl; he made the sign of the cross over it, and it flew out a window.
		Nine passengers on ship going down at sea once asked Nicholas' aid; he appeared in the sky, wearing the fl Augustinian habit, radiating golden light, holding a lily in his left hand; with his right hand he quelled the storm.
	www.catholic-forum.com /saints/saintn07.htm (476 words)

	St Nicholas. Santa's Net.
		St Nicholas was born in 280 AD, in Patara, a city of Lycia, in Asia Minor.
		A famous story about St Nicholas, is about a poor man who had no money to give to his three daughters on their wedding day.
		In the eyes of the Catholics, a saint is someone who has lived such a holy life that, after dying and going to heaven, he or she is still able to help people on earth.
	www.santas.net /stnicholas.htm (636 words)

	Saint Nicholas of Flue -- Encyclopædia Britannica
		His intervention in a conflict between cantonal factions over the admission of Fribourg and Solothurn to the Swiss Confederation led to the agreement of Stans (Dec. 22, 1481), which forestalled civil war and strengthened the federative bond of the member cantons.
		Many European countries consider St. Nicholas Day, celebrated on December 6, to be the start of the Christmas holiday season.
		Nicholas II was the last Russian czar, or emperor.
	www.britannica.com /eb/article-9055732 (718 words)

	Saint Nicholas of Myra (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-07)
		Nicholas is the national saint of Russia and Greece and churches named after him number in the thousands - more than 400 in Great Britain alone.
		He is the patron saint of judges, murderers, pawnbrokers, thieves, merchants, paupers, scholars, sailors, bakers, travelers, maidens and poor children.
		Saint Nicholas was born in the Middle East in the fourth century.
	frpat.com /nicholas.htm (556 words)

	St. Nicholas Day
		St Nicholas was a Christian priest, born in 280 AD, in Tukey.
		He was eventually named the patron saint of children.
		The name Santa Claus was derived from the Dutch "Sinter Klass" pronunciation of St Nicholas.
	hicards.com /platinum/bizarre/12-6.html (99 words)

	Initial C: Saint Nicholas (Getty Museum)
		The legend of Saint Nicholas, a fourth-century bishop, relates the story of the saint rescuing the daughters of an anguished father from prostitution by offering the father money for their dowries.
		Through its windows, the reader sees a man weeping on the lower floor, his two daughters upstairs, and the saint to the right, proffering the necessary gold.
		Saint Nicholas's story became an important theme in art of the late 1200s because the rising costs of dowries in Italy developed into such a burden that contributing to young girls' dowries became a common act of Christian charity.
	www.getty.edu /art/collections/objects/o1872.html (143 words)

	Saint Nicholas (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-07)
		This section gives a detailed explanation of the origin of Saint Nicholas and how the veneration of this saint spread from Asia Minor to Europe.
		It explains why St. Nicholas day is on the 6th of December.
		This explains the clothes worn by St Nicholas in some regions of Germany and Austria and how in other areas of Germany, he is just known as "Nikolaus" and is more associated with Christmas.
	www.billanookps.vic.edu.au /German/saint_nicholas.htm (327 words)

	Christmas on the Net - The Many Faces of Santa
		Saint Nicholas was know for his charity and wisdom.
		These pilgrims took the legend of Saint Nicholas back to their native lands.
		As the legend of Saint Nicholas spread it would take on the characteristics of each country.
	www.holidays.net /christmas/santa.htm (884 words)

	TATO (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-07)
		When I was a child, I remember having some confusion with the idea of St. Nicholas arriving in his bishop's attire on December 6th to hand out presents to good children, only to be followed on December 25th by jolly old Santa Claus, who left presents under the Christmas tree.
		So late one night, Nicholas dropped a small bag of gold in the maiden's window so that the eldest girl could be married.
		Despite this, many countries still celebrate the Eve of Saint Nicholas by giving presents to children on December 6th and not on the 25th which is reserved for Christmas.
	www.ukienet.com /Xmas.htm (983 words)

	Saint Nicholas ::: Origin of Santa (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-07)
		Nicholas in 1773, not to honor Bishop Nicholas, but rather as a non-British symbol to counter the English St. George societies.
		These delightful flights of imagination are the origin of the New Amsterdam St. Nicholas legends: that the first Dutch emigrant ship had a figurehead of St. Nicholas; that St. Nicholas Day was observed in the colony; that the first church was dedicated to him: and that St. Nicholas comes down chimneys to bring gifts.
		Nicholas was shown in a gift-giving role with children's treats in stockings hanging at a fireplace.
	www.stnicholascenter.org /Brix?pageID=35 (1338 words)

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