The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1919-12-25

has not come to US from the
people who wantOnly abused
the children of France and Belgium. When
call ST. Nicholas Santa Claus" we are merely
saying in our way "San Nicolaas," as the peO-
pie of Holland say it. For the Hollanders, who
settled in New York and New Jersey 300 years
ago at the very beginning of our country, brought
San NICOLAS with them, and it not long be-
fore Americans were saying Santa Claus"
Why ST Nicholas belongs to all the world.
Hundreds of churches in England bear his name.
There are more than hundred st. Nicholas
churches in Belgium Thousands of such churches
are scattered all over Europe.
The queer thing about it is that st. Nicholas
was really born in Asia Minor in Panthera In the
province of Lycia, in the sixth century. st. NchO-
las Of Bari he is oftenest called by Europeans but
only the bones of ST. Nicholas reposing for eight
centuries in the crypt of handsome cathedral at
Bari, Italy, have given him that title. He never
lived In Bari. Italian sea traders who worshiped
MIN as their especial protector, stole his body
from its resting place In AIyra the twelfth CEN
fury and brought it to the Italian seaport Since
that time the celebration held there In the saints
honor is unique.
The eastern world knew and loved him first but
it is from western Europe that we learn OF many
OF the quaint customs connected with the ceIebra-
ton OF his BIRTH In Lycia he lived to a good old
age, filling his days even in childhood by doing
good deeds and giving lavishly to the poor Of the
fortune he inherited It Christlike to give
So as steward Of God. his wealth belonged to
Gods children. Nicholas believed. Finally he was
pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
It was not strange that after such a life of
char1ty he should become a saint of the common
people, even as st. George was a saint of knight
hood. He was invoked by the laborer toiIing for
his daily bread, by mariners, by merchants He
was protector Of the weak against the strong the
poor against the rich. the captive the prisoner
the slave. He was especial guardian of maidens
schoolboys, the orphan poor. Throughout most of
Europe children are taught to reverence him. and
to believe If they dOcile and attentive to their
duties he VIII I'LL the cap or stocking with dain-
ties; If they are naughty or Idle, he certainly has
a rod In pickle to bring along for them
Here is what the Encyclopedia Britannica has
to say about st. Nicholas:
'St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra, in Lycia, q saint
hOnOred by the Greeks and the Latins on the
sixth of December. His cult is as celebrated as
his history Is obscure. All the accounts that have
come down to of a purely legendary char
acter, and it Is impossible to find any single in
cident confirmed historically. The main facts of
his life usually given as follows:
He was bishop of AIyra at the time of the
Emperor Diocletian, was prosecuted, tortured for
the faith, and kept In prison until the more toll
Grant reign of Constantine, and was present at
the council of Nicaea- 1t should be observed that
this last circumstance is ignored by all hfstor-
ians AND that st. Athanasius who knew all the
notable bishops of the period. never mentions
Nicholas, bishop Of Myra. The oldest known
monument OF the cult Of St Nicholas seems to be
the Church of SITS. PhiScuS and Nicholas buiIt aft
West, the name Of st. Nicholas appears in the
ninth century martyrolOgies. and churches dedi-
Gated to him to be found at the beginning of
the eleventh century.
1t is more especially, however, from the time
of the removal of his body to Bari in Apulia that
his cult became popular. The inhabitants of Bari
organized expedition, seized his remains nv
means of u Euse and transported them to Bari
where they were received in triumph on the ninth
Of May, 1857, and where the foundations were laid
OF a new basilica in his honor. This was the
origin of a famous and still popular piIerima ge
There are nearly 400 churches in England dedi-
Gated to st. Nicholas. He is the patron saint of
Russia; the special protector of children, schol-
arS, merchants and sailors; and is invoked by
travellers against robbers. In art St Nicholas Is
represented with various attributes being most
commonly depicted with three children standing
in q tub by bis side. OF the various interpreta-
lions of this none is absolutely certain. One ex-
PLANTATION has been sought in the legend of ST
Nicholas miraculously restoring to life three rich
youths, who had been murdered, cut up and con-
cealed In a sailing tub by thievish innkeeper
or butcher, in whose house they had taken Iodg-
| ing