DECEMBER 6, 2016
8:45 AM ORDINARY FORM MASS (4TH GRADERS)
Hagiography comes from two Greek words meaning the study of the saints.
Today's saint is St. Nicholas of Myra, a third century saint ... who is often considered to be where Santa Claus got his name.
He was born in 270 AD, when the Church was being persecuted. He was known for being holy and devout, and was made bishop of Myra on the southern coast of what is now Turkey.
He was imprisoned, beaten, and tortured in an effort to make him, the local bishop, renounce the Christian Faith. The thought, on the part of the authorities, was that if they got one of the leaders to give up Christianity, the flock would give it up, too.
In 313 AD, the persecutions of Christians stopped with the Edict of Milan. Christianity was now legal in the Roman Empire, but was only one of many religions.
In 325 AD, the Council of Nicea was convened to discuss the nature of Jesus Christ. Was He truly God and truly man? Part God and part man? Something completely different besides God or man?
The Creed we use on Sundays and Solemnities is the Nicene Creed, and was formulated at this council.
During the discussion, St. Nicholas sat listening to a priest named Arius who was trying to convince the emperor, the bishops and the pope that Jesus was not God and was not man, but was some sort of demi-god or maybe an angel. St. Nicholas, who had suffered so much for the Faith, got frustrated, stood up, and smacked Arius to make him stop.
Hitting someone in the presence of the Emperor was illegal (like starting a fight in a court room would be now), so St. Nicholas was stripped of his bishop's garment (stole/omophorion/pallium) and his copy of the Bible, and put him in chains in prison.
That night, Mary and Jesus appeared to him. His chains fell off, and Mary handed him his bishop's clothes, and Jesus gave him back his book of the Gospels. When the guard came the next morning, he saw the bishop St. Nicholas reading the Bible and wearing his bishop's garment.
The emperor heard, and decided God wanted St. Nicholas to be a bishop and to be released from prison.
His life was filled with healings and good works. He is remembered for his generosity and miracles.
He died in 343 AD, and was buried in Turkey.
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