Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia

Nicholas was bishop of Myra in Lycia, on the southern coast of Asia Minor, in the first half of the 4th century; tradition says he was born at nearby Patara. Little about him is documented, but his Lives preserve stories told of him from early times. In the best known, he secretly threw gold into the house of a ruined man so that his three daughters could marry.

Another tells how he stopped the execution of three innocent men at Myra and pleaded for three officers condemned in Constantinople. Later tradition places him at the Council of Nicaea in 325. He died about 345. In 1087 sailors from Bari carried his relics to Italy, and the gift-giver Santa Claus grew out of the customs of his feast.