"In the process of salvation by co-operating with grace through faith in Jesus Christ, as sustained

"In the process of salvation by co-operating with grace through faith in Jesus Christ, as sustained by the sacraments and by works of love, because faith without works is dead."

Saturday, December 6, 2025

The Feast of Saint Nicholas December 6th

 


The Feast of Saint Nicholas of Myra:

Recovering the Real Saint Behind the Modern Santa Claus

By Chris M. Forte

Introduction: Why Saint Nicholas Still Matters

Every December, the world explodes with red-suited images of “Santa Claus”—a jolly, magical gift-giver who lives at the North Pole and slides down chimneys. But long before this modern American icon existed, there was a real man: Saint Nicholas of Myra, also known as Saint Nicholas of Bari, a bishop, saint, confessor, and defender of the faith.

And the more I’ve studied him over the years, the more I’ve become convinced of something simple but countercultural: the real Saint Nicholas is far greater—far more inspiring—than the commercial caricature of Santa Claus. I believe it is the real Saint Nicholas whom we ought to celebrate every year, especially on his traditional feast day, December 6th (or December 5th in some European traditions), so that Christmas itself can return to its true center: Christ.

1. The Historical Saint Nicholas: Bishop, Confessor, Miracle Worker

Saint Nicholas was born in the 3rd century in Patara, a Greek city in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). Orphaned at a young age, he inherited a considerable estate, which he immediately began distributing to the poor—laying the foundation for the legendary generosity that would define his memory for centuries to come.

He eventually became the Bishop of Myra in Lycia. His episcopacy coincided with some of the most turbulent moments of early Christian history:

• The Diocletian Persecution

Nicholas was imprisoned and tortured for the faith, earning him the title of confessor—one who suffers for Christ but does not die.

• The Council of Nicaea (325 AD)

A famous late legend states Nicholas attended the Council and struck Arius for denying Christ’s divinity—so zealous was Nicholas for the full, orthodox faith of the early Church. Whether the slap truly occurred is debated, but the tradition reflects how strongly the Christian world associated Nicholas with doctrinal courage.¹

• Miracles and Legends

Over time, various stories were attached to his name—some historical, others theological reflections:

  • The Three Daughters
    Nicholas secretly provided gold dowries for three impoverished girls to save them from being sold into prostitution. He tossed bags of gold through their window at night—thus the origin of Christmas stockings.²

  • The Sailors Saved from Storm
    He appeared to sailors in danger at sea and calmed the waves, becoming patron saint of sailors.³

  • The “Three Boys in the Barrel”
    A medieval legend tells of Nicholas resurrecting murdered children, symbolizing his role as protector of the innocent.⁴

Whether literal or symbolic, these traditions all point to the same truth: Saint Nicholas embodied Christian charity, courage, and defense of the vulnerable.



2. Devotion to Saint Nicholas Around the World

The veneration of Saint Nicholas spread rapidly after his death around 343 AD. His relics were later translated to Bari, Italy—hence the title Saint Nicholas of Bari.

• In the Christian East

He became one of the most honored saints of the Orthodox world. Icons of “Holy Nicholas the Wonderworker” (Άγιος Νικόλαος ὁ Θαυματουργός) are found in virtually every Russian Orthodox home and church. For Russians and Greeks alike, Nicholas is a fatherly protector, miracle worker, and intercessor whose closeness to Christ is celebrated throughout the year.



• In Western Europe

Medieval Europeans celebrated his feast with plays, gift-giving, charitable works, and music. Children received gifts on December 6, not December 25, keeping Christ’s birth separate from Nicholas’ memory.

• In America

Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam (New York) brought their tradition of Sinterklaas, which eventually blended with English and German customs.

3. From Saint to Santa: How the Legend Was Changed



The transformation from Saint Nicholas to Santa Claus took several centuries and involved multiple cultural shifts.

• Protestant Northern Europe

After the Reformation, many Protestant regions suppressed devotion to Catholic saints. In some places, Saint Nicholas’ feast was discouraged and replaced by secular figures like the “Christmas Man” (Weihnachtsmann) or “Father Christmas,” who preserved gift-giving traditions without Catholic theology.⁵

• Anti-Catholic Influences

In my opinion—and in the opinion of some scholars—the deliberate removal of the saint from Saint Nicholas was influenced partly by anti-Catholic sentiment.⁶ A purely magical, secular “Santa” was more acceptable in cultures that rejected saints, sacraments, relics, and intercession.

• American Commercialism

The final shaping of Santa Claus happened in the 19th and 20th centuries:

  • Clement Clarke Moore’s poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (1823) introduced a magical, elf-like gift-giver.

  • Thomas Nast’s illustrations in Harper’s Weekly (1860s–1880s) established the red suit, reindeer, and North Pole workshop.⁷

  • Coca-Cola advertising in the 1930s cemented the modern Santa’s appearance.

Over time, devotion to the saint disappeared, replaced by consumer-driven imagery.

4. Why I Prefer the Real Saint Nicholas

Here is where my personal conviction is strongest:
the real Saint Nicholas is far more meaningful than the modern Santa Claus.

Santa Claus is magical;
Saint Nicholas is miraculous.

Santa Claus brings toys;
Saint Nicholas rescues the poor, defends the abused, and proclaims Christ.

Santa Claus distracts from Christmas;
Saint Nicholas points directly to Christ.

This is why I prefer to celebrate Saint Nicholas on December 6—so Christmas can remain focused on the birth of Jesus, not on presents, shopping, or commercial frenzy. For me, the old custom makes far more spiritual sense.

Was Saint Nicholas Based on a Pagan God?

Answering the Odin, Wodan, Neptune, and “Pagan Survival” Claims

One of the most common accusations I see online—repeated by atheists, neo-pagans, and anti-Catholic polemicists—is the claim that Saint Nicholas was not a historical Christian figure at all but was “copied” from pagan gods like Odin, Wodan, or even Poseidon/Neptune. The argument usually goes: “Look! Odin rode through the sky! Poseidon was the god of the sea! Saint Nicholas must just be a repackaged pagan god!”

But as soon as you begin examining actual historical evidence, these claims fall apart completely.

And I don’t just mean they’re weak.
I mean there is zero historical basis for them.

What we are dealing with is not history at all, but modern mythology built from superficial similarities and repeated endlessly across social media. Below I outline the claims and the evidence—real evidence—that refutes them.

1. The Odin/Wodan Theory — A Modern Internet Myth, Not History



This is the most common claim, especially in neo-pagan and New Atheist circles: that Saint Nicholas evolved from Odin or Wodan, the sky-riding “gift-giver” of Germanic myth.

Why this is historically impossible:

a) Saint Nicholas lived in Asia Minor, not Scandinavia.

He was a Greek Christian bishop in the Roman Empire. Odin was a northern Germanic deity. Their cultural worlds did not overlap.¹

b) Scandinavia was not Christianized until the 8th–12th centuries.

But devotion to Saint Nicholas began in the 300s and spread across the Mediterranean by the 500s.²
Nicholas was venerated 500–800 years before the Norse sagas were even written down.

c) The Odin theory originates in 19th-century anti-Catholic writings.

Scholars such as Jacob Grimm (yes, the fairy tale Grimm) and Protestant critics attempted to link saints to “pagan survivals” to discredit Catholicism.³
Modern neo-pagans later adopted these claims as if they were factual.

d) Similarities are medieval European blending—not origin.

When Christian missionaries entered Germanic lands, local people mixed their winter customs with Saint Nicholas’ feast day.
That isn’t origin; it’s cultural adaptation.

Correlation is not causation.
And syncretism is not genealogy.

2. The Poseidon/Neptune Claim — A Misreading of Patronage



Another claim is that Saint Nicholas was derived from Poseidon/Neptune because both are associated with the sea.

Why this is false:

a) Nicholas’ connection to sailors comes from Christian miracle stories.

The earliest accounts describe him appearing in storms and rescuing sailors through prayer.⁴
This is a distinctly Christian miracle narrative, not a pagan one.

b) Christians in Asia Minor actively rejected pagan religion.

Nicholas lived during the final centuries of Roman paganism. The Church strongly opposed pagan deities. Christianizing a pagan god under a saint’s name would have been unthinkable.⁵

c) Patronage ≠ derivation.

Saints are patrons of:

  • sailors (Nicholas)

  • musicians (Cecilia)

  • lost things (Anthony)

  • animals (Francis of Assisi)

None of these saints were “derived” from pagan archetypes.
Patronage comes from who the saint helped, not from syncretism with old gods.

d) No early Christian writer references any such connection.

In fact, early biographies are explicit that Nicholas confronted paganism—not absorbed it.⁶

3. The Real Reason People Think “Nicholas = Pagan God”

(Apologetic Response)**

These theories survive for three reasons:

a) Anti-Catholic polemics

Protestants in the 18th–19th centuries claimed Catholic saints were “pagan survivals” to argue that Catholicism was not biblical. Scholars like Ronald Hutton and Jean Delumeau have shown how anti-Catholic bias influenced this scholarship.⁷

b) Neo-pagan reconstructionism

Modern neo-pagan religions (Wicca, neo-Druidism, etc.) were mostly invented in the 19th–20th centuries. Claiming that Christians stole everything from paganism helps legitimize their modern reconstructions as “ancient.”
But their claims are historically inaccurate.

c) The Internet loves oversimplified comparisons

People say:
“Odin rode through the sky. Santa rides through the sky. Same guy!”
This is not how serious historical analysis works.
Superficial resemblance ≠ historical derivation.

4. The Real Origin: A Christian Bishop, Not a Pagan God

Historically verifiable facts demonstrate:

  • Saint Nicholas was a real person

  • He was a bishop of Myra, recorded in early Christian documents

  • Devotion to him is documented from the 300s onward

  • His cult spread in the East centuries before reaching pagan northern Europe

  • His miracles and stories come from Christian tradition

  • The later blending with northern folklore reflects Christianity influencing pagan customs, not the reverse

The direction of influence is the opposite of what critics claim.

Christians did not take Odin and turn him into Nicholas.
Northern Europeans took Nicholas and dressed him in local winter traditions.



Theology of the Feast Day: Why the Church Honors Him

Saint Nicholas’ feast is not merely about historical memory. It is about:

• Charity rooted in the Gospel

Nicholas lived Christ’s command to care for “the least of these.”
His life is a sermon on Matthew 25.

• Orthodoxy and Defense of Truth

His connection with the rejection of Arianism highlights the Church’s early defense of Christ’s divinity.

• Intercession and Heavenly Communion

Christians have long invoked Nicholas as a powerful intercessor—especially sailors, children, the poor, and the falsely accused.

• The Imitation of Christ

Nicholas teaches us that holiness is not abstract—it is lived.

Conclusion:

Returning to the Real Saint Nicholas

The modern Santa Claus is entertaining, but ultimately he is a distraction—a secular invention largely stripped of the Catholic faith that gave rise to him.

The real Saint Nicholas is better—more human, more holy, more challenging, and more inspiring.

And I believe our culture would benefit immensely if we returned to celebrating his feast on December 6th, letting Christmas be about Christ, and letting Saint Nicholas be honored for who he truly was:
a bishop, a confessor, a miracle worker, and a living icon of Christian charity.

Footnotes 

  1. Adam C. English, The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2012), 12–25.

  2. Ramsay MacMullen, Christianizing the Roman Empire (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984), 101–119.

  3. Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, vol. 1 (Göttingen: Dieterichsche Buchhandlung, 1835), 144–148.

  4. English, The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus, 91–94.

  5. Robin Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians (New York: Knopf, 1987), 459–462.

  6. Theodorus Lector, Anagnostes, in PG 86.

  7. Ronald Hutton, The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 45–52.

  8. Jean Delumeau, Catholicism Between Luther and Voltaire (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1977), 112–119.

Updated Bibliography (with Hyperlinks)


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