Birth of Saint Nicholas~the inspiration behind Santa Claus
St Nicholas was born on 15th March 270 AD.
Little is known about the historical Saint Nicholas.
The earliest accounts of his life were written centuries after his death, and probably contain legendary elaborations.
We do know Nicholas was born in the village of Patara, Turkey, to wealthy parents.
When his parents died in an epidemic, they left their son a large fortune.
Nicholas became famous for his gift-giving, and charity to the poor.
Probably, the most famous story was about how he gifted three girls with bags of gold, to save them from a life of prostitution.
As a devout Christian, St Nicholas followed Jesus’ teaching of selling all worldly possessions and giving to the poor – and that is exactly what he did.
Nicholas become bishop of Myra in the 4th century, but was imprisoned shortly after by the Roman emperor Diocletian ~ at a time when Christians were persecuted.
Nicholas was released under the rule of Constantine the Great.
It has long been traditionally assumed that when Nicholas died in 343 AD, he was originally buried in his home town of Myra, where his relics are later known to have been kept.
Previously, it was believed the 1,674-year-old remains were smuggled to the Italian city of Bari, by merchants in the year 1087.
However, Turkish archaeologists are now suggesting the wrong bones were removed ~ and the ones that went to Italy belonged to an anonymous priest.
The tomb of Saint Nicolas, was discovered in 2017, after archaeologists uncovered the remains of an ancient church, in Turkey.
The church had been submerged by rising sea levels in the Mediterranean, during the Middle Ages.
Another church was built on top of the ancient basilica’s foundation, to protect the saint’s tomb.
The Byzantine church built that was built over the ancient foundation, was a place of worship for Orthodox Christians between the 5th and 12th centuries ~ and is surrounded by statues of St Nicholas.
However, archaeologists uncovered mosaic and stone flooring from the previous sanctuary, under the one that stands today.
This led them to St Nicholas’ final resting place.
The discovery support claims that St Nicolas lived and died in Turkey.
Records do show that St Nicholas was buried at the church, built in his name.
However his body’s exact whereabouts had always been a mystery.
Researchers now believe at the time of his death, St Nicholas was interred at the church in Demre, where he lay undisturbed until the 11th century.
After discovering Nicholas resting place, the next step was to remove all the intricate stone mosaic tiles, to reach the tomb.
It will be a long, tedious, complicated and ongoing process to complete.
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