Who is Saint Nicholas

Saint Nicholas, a Catholic Saint that many people can associate with as being jolly old Saint Nick. Now while some people will consider him as being Santa Claus which could be held to some truth because of the way that he lived his life has his Saints day celebrated nineteen days prior to Christmas when Santa Claus comes out to share his gifts with the world. However, here is a history of Saint Nicholas that you might not have thought of and how many people consider him and Santa Claus to be mirrors of each other.

Now some people might consider Saint Nicholas to be similar to Santa Claus because during his feast day on December sixth the nuns in certain regions would deposit bread and other necessary items to the needy in the area. Now this was done close to Christmas time, but it was still unexpected gifts to the needy people who would not have had any food if it wasn't for this deposit of food.

Some of the other reasons why Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus could be considered the same is that the parents in the Catholic regions of Central Europe would inform the priest if the children were behaving or misbehaving. Now this is something that parents do now with Santa Claus to help guide the children into a good behavior that they can maintain. If you think about around Christmas time the children now seem to get along better because they know for certain that Santa Claus is keeping a close eye on them. So that would be similar to the time period for when Saint Nicholas was around.

However, one thing that you will be curious to learn is that Saint Nicholas is the patron Saint of Sailors. Now according to some accounts Saint Nicholas became the patron Saint of sailors by saving a sailors life during a sea voyage[1]. So that is why he would become to be known as the patron Saint of sailors. So it would seem odd that the person who we have transposed to be more like Santa Claus started out as Saint Nicholas who is the patron Saint of sailors, not of gifts.

Saint Nicholas is a great Saint who many people have decided that he is known as Santa Claus. Now that you know more about the history of this Saint you will want to be sure to reiterate that with your children so that they know that Santa Claus is not real person, but a person that is a real life Saint that has been made to look like Santa Claus.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas