Happy Saint Nicholas Day!

Happy St. Nick’s Day! The tale of St. Nick is an old one, dating back to the third century when a wealthy couple had a child named Nicholas. His parents raised him to love the Lord, but sadly they died of an epidemic while Nicholas was a young boy. When Nicholas grew up, he became a bishop. He was very generous and gave all of his inheritance away. The people loved him for his kindness. He was especially caring and kind to children.

During the time Bishop Nicholas was alive, the Roman Emperor persecuted Christians. Bishop Nicholas was thrown into prison along with many other bishops, priests, and deacons. In fact, the prisons were so full of religious people, that there wasn’t room for real criminals like murderers, thieves and robbers. Yet, Bishop Nicholas remained steadfast in his faith and was eventually released. He continued his good work until the day he died – December 6^th. It is on the anniversary of his death that we celebrate, St. Nicholas Day!

There are many tales of St. Nick’s generosity; here is the tale of how he became known as the Gift Giver:

Once there was a poor man who had three daughters. They were so poor that the daughters had no dowry. In that time, if a young girl had no dowry, she’d be destined to a life a slavery and most likely never marry. Yet one dark night, three bags of gold where tossed into an open window and landed in the daughter’s shoes that had been left by the fire to dry. This started the tradition of children hanging their stockings or putting their shoes by the fireplace in anticipation of St. Nicholas’s gifts. In some stories, the bags of gold were in the form of a ball. That is why it became popular to give oranges at Christmas time. This is how St. Nicholas became known as the Gift-Giver. 

Hope you all have a Happy St. Nick's Day!