How did St. Nicholas morph into what has now become the secular Santa Claus?
I believe it is pretty simple. St. Nicholas journeyed to the North Pole where he built a great workshop and hired all the elves and flying reindeer of the world to help him make and deliver presents to good boys and girls across the world. Perhaps a better question is to ask what Santa Claus is going to do when the polar ice cap melts due to global warming. If Al Gore could not convince us that global warming is a serious problem, maybe Santa Claus can. Once Santa’s workshop goes down to the depths of the Artic Ocean and the presents stop coming, we will have no choice but reform our naughty, air-polluting, gas-guzzling ways!
However, in all seriousness, some scholars have questioned my tradition view of Santa Claus. The historical figure of St. Nicholas was a fourth century bishop of Myra (in modern day Turkey). Other than that, we don’t know much about him for sure. One story is that St. Nicholas as a young man learned of a struggling, poor family. The father was unable to provide a dowry for his three daughters so that they were unable to find husbands. So poor they were that these daughters were on the verge of being sold into a very unfortunate lifestyle. St. Nicholas came to their rescue. Under the cover of darkness he threw a sack of gold into their house for each of the daughters to provide a dowry for them so they could get married and escape their terrible poverty. St. Nicholas’ feast day is Dec. 6th, and a tradition arose of giving gifts on that day (they appeared in children’s shoes, thus emerging the tradition of stocking stuffing). The Dutch called him Sinterklaas. Thus, the name Santa Claus is derived from Saint Nicholas. There’s more to the story that cannot be told in entirety here. Far be it from me to debunk this beloved legend any more with the scholars’ Scrooge-like, historical-critical ways. My advice though is don’t forget the reason for the season—the birth of Jesus Christ our Savior, the greatest gift we’ve ever received!
-Fr. Greg
