Saint Nicholas, Bishop

Nicholas was bishop of Myra in Lycia, on the southern coast of Asia Minor, in the first half of the 4th century; little about him is certain beyond that. The stories told of him from the 6th century onward say that, as a young man, he secretly threw gold through the window of a poor man's house at night to provide dowries for his three daughters, and that he saved three officers unjustly condemned to death. Later tradition places him among the bishops at the Council of Nicaea. He is said to have died on 6 December about 343. In 1087 sailors from Bari carried his relics from Myra to their city, where a basilica was built for them. The gift-giving of Saint Nicholas, Sinterklaas, gave rise to Santa Claus.