The true miracles of Saint Nicholas

Born into a Christian family in Lycia around 270 AD, Nicholas succeeded his uncle as bishop of Myra in 300 AD. Although arrested and tortured, he survived Diocletian's persecution and, once released, became known for his charity. He was one of the first saints to be given the gift of bilocation and the ability to multiply food supplies.

Although the famous story of the resurrection of three little children, which gave rise to his popularity, is a medieval invention, the true anecdote that inspired it is just as astonishing: Nicholas' miraculous intervention with the Emperor Constantine on behalf of three officers who had been unjustly condemned.

Shutterstock / Zvonimir Atletic

Reasons to believe:

While it is normal, in time of danger, to seek the intercession of a holy person who is now deceased, it is unusual to address prayers to a living person. Yet this was the case with Saint Nicholas, which shows that his reputation as a miracle-worker was already great during his lifetime.

It was because they had witnessed one of Nicholas' miracles that the three officers unjustly condemned to death asked God to intervene on their behalf through the Bishop of Myra.

Human prudence would have advised Nicholas not to attract the attention of the emperor or try to oppose him. In fact, Nicholas had already made a name for himself in 325, at the first Council of Nicaea, by defending the divinity of Christ against the heretic Arius, who claimed that Jesus was only a man. Losing his temper, Nicholas had slapped Arius publicly at the council. The emperor sided with the doctrine of Arianism, and certainly held it against Nicholas to have opposed his theological errors, and humiliated Arius - an action that sent Nicholas to prison.

Nicholas' night-time apparition in the imperial bedroom in Constantinople, more than three hundred kilometres from Myra, bears a strong resemblance to more recent, well-observed bilocation phenomena, such as those of Padre Pio.

Constantine, renowned for his hot temper, was so impressed by this event that he reversed his sentence, freed the condemned men and sent them to Myra to thank Nicholas for saving them and sparing Constantine an injustice.

As proof of Nicholas' holiness, as soon as he died on 6 December 343, a fragrant oil, known as "manna", oozed from his body and healed people. This miracle was still witnessed after his relics were transferred to Bari, in southern Italy, and continues to this day, more than fifteen centuries after his death.

Summary:

Born around 270 in Patara, Lycia, to a wealthy Christian family, Nicholas lost his parents at an early age. Raised by his maternal uncle - Nicholas, Bishop of Myra in Anatolia - he succeeded him in 300, sold his possessions and gave the money to the poor. On learning that his neighbour, lacking the dowries to marry off his three daughters, was exposing them to prostitution, he discreetly deposited money in his garden to provide a dowry.

Although the persecution unleashed by Diocletian in 303 continued in the East until 320 (Constantine's victory over his pagan rivals), Nicholas, imprisoned and tortured, escaped death and resumed his episcopal duties, with a reputation as a confessor of the faith and a miracle-worker.

Sailors caught in a storm, after calling out to him for help, saw him appear on the deck of the ship in distress and calm the sea. As Myra was suffering from famine, Nicholas went to see captains of ships transporting wheat to Constantinople and asked to buy some bags from them; the captains said they could not spare a single sack intended for the supply of the capital. Nicholas promised them that at their arrival, their cargo would be the same, which is what happened. The sailors then proclaimed the miracle.

Taking part in the Council of Nicaea in 325, he was one of the bishops who, following in the footsteps of Patriarch Athanasius of Alexandria, braved the wrath of Constantine, who had rallied to Arius' heresy, to defend the divinity of Christ and impose the Catholic Creed . After slapping Arius in the face, he was sent back to prison, only to be rehabilitated when the Catholic faith prevailed.

Back in Myra, Nicholas received three imperial dignitaries, Nepatian, Ursus and Apilio, on their way to Constantinople, who witnessed the bishop's many just and charitable actions. Back in the capital, victims of defamation, the officers were condemned to death. They implored the Bishop of Myra to help them. Nicholas appeared in Constantine's room in the middle of the night and, when the emperor, not understanding how Nicholas had entered the premises, protected by the security services, asked him why he was there, he replied that Constantine had condemned three innocent people to death. Constantine immediately had the three men released and sent them to Myra to thank the bishop.

Nicholas died at the Convent of the Holy Zion on 6 December 343. His body, incorrupt and exuding a miraculous fragrant oil, was transported to Bari, Italy, to protect it from the Muslim invasion. Since then, miracles have never ceased to occur at his tomb.

Anne Bernet is a Church History specialist, postulator of a cause for beatification, and journalist for a number of Catholic media. She is also the author of over forty books on holy lives.

Beyond reasons to believe:

The phenomenon of oil exudation is common in Eastern churches, the best-known and most recent example being that of the Lebanese Saint Charbel, who died in 1898, but there are other examples in the Western Catholic world, in addition to that of Saint Nicholas (Francis de Sales, Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, Gerard Majella).

Going further:

The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus: The True Life and Trials of Nicholas of Myra by Adam C. English, Baylor University Press (October 16, 2012)

More information:

Saint Nicholas of Myra: The Life and Legacy of the Ancient Christian Bishop Who Became the Inspiration for Santa ClausPaperback by Charles River Editors, Independently published (December 24, 2018)