The Catholic Church in Sweden

Saint Nicholas Bishop of Myra

December 6

This day is Niklas and Nicholas' name day, but this day also has a different meaning for the children in Holand, Germany and other countries on the continent as well as in many of the Catholic parishes in Sweden. Then it is almost Christmas Eve, when Nicholas Day is celebrated. Some dress up as St. Nicholas and come to visit with gifts, just like the real St. Nicholas did over a thousand years ago. It is not common to celebrate Nicholas Day in Sweden and there are probably not many who think about calling Santa Claus in England and the United States.

So who is St. Nicholas?

Saint Nicholas

Saint Nicholas was born around the year 280 in Patara in the province of Lycia in Asia Minor. He was the only child of Nonna and Theophanes ("Joan and Epiphanus" depending on the source) who were very God-fearing, the father being a rich and respected merchant. After the birth of St. Nicholas, his mother was immediately free from pain, and from this moment until her death she had no more children. When St. Nicholas was baptized, he stood up in the baptismal font without any support for three hours, thus honoring the Holy Trinity, he then became a servant of God and a great advocate of God's Word. He drank only milk from his mother's right breast, and on Wednesdays and Fridays he showed himself very restrained, drinking only once in the evening after his parents finished evening prayers. Throughout his life, St. Nicholas would observe a strict fast on Wednesdays and Fridays.
St. Nicholas grew in his faith, morality and courage as the years passed, and his knowledge of God also increased, among other things through the teaching of his God-fearing parents. When it came to the Holy Scriptures, St. Nicholas was easy to learn, through his strong intellect and with the help of the Holy Spirit.
When St. Nicholas' parents were snatched away, due to a serious illness, the faithful steward came to Nicholas with the large inheritance. St. Nicholas asked the trustee to take care of the business in the future as well. The inheritance allowed Nicholas to help even more poor people, and he preferred to do this in secret.

Saint Nicholas was now bishop of the town of Myra, had the reputation of being a great benefactor. a most famous story of St. Nicholas' goodness follows below:

There lived in Patara a rich and respectable man, who had lost all his money and lived in abject poverty. He had three very beautiful daughters who were virgins. Now that he had been knocked out and lacked the necessities of life, the father planned to prostitute his daughters and turn his house into a brothel. This would give him a source of income so that he could support himself and his daughters. O what thoughts the man had because of his difficult situation, this would only lead to unhappiness and humiliation. When St. Nicholas heard of the rich man's misfortune, he decided to help him in secret; to prevent the father from humiliating himself and his daughters by pursuing his thoughts. So St. Nicholas took a large sack of gold, and went to the man's house at midnight, and threw the sack through an open window, and then hurried home.

In the morning, the man found the sack of gold, which he tied up. He thought the gold was counterfeit, which he soon found out it wasn't, after he tested it. He went through a list of all his friends and business acquaintances, again of whom may have thrown in the sack of gold. The poor man fell to his knees crying and thanked God for the wonderful gift. He often wondered where the gold came from. Thanks to the gold, the man could now marry off his eldest daughter and give her the gold he had received as a dowry.

When St. Nicholas saw that the man was acting according to his wishes, he decided to give the other daughter the same gift as well. Again, St. Nicholas prepared a sack of gold and went to the man's house in the middle of the night, throwing the sack through the window. The next morning, the man found the sack with the gold on the floor. The father fell to the ground in tears and thanked God. Now the man could also marry off his second daughter, and prevent her humiliation.

He still wondered who the mysterious stranger who had given him the gifts was, so he watched at the window every night from now on. St. Nicholas had also prepared a third sack of gold, which he threw in through the window as he had done the other times. This time the man was prepared and hurried after the stranger, when he caught up with the stranger he recognized him because he was a well-known priest in the city, he thanked St. Nicholas and said: "If God had not raised me up through Your generosity through His mercy, I, an unfortunate father, would have long ago lost my daughters to a life of sin.

Now we are saved from a fall of horrible sin, by You through God," said the man. Now the third daughter could also marry, and the husband and daughters were spared the shame and humiliation that would have been if the man had put his plan into action.

Since the man had revealed that the helper was St. Nicholas, he had to swear not to reveal to anyone who the helper was.

Pilgrimage to Palestine

St. Nicholas also made a pilgrimage to Palestine to see and venerate the holy places where, the Lord Jesus Christ, walked with His bare feet. When the ship he was traveling on approached Egypt, his fellow travelers did not know what awaited them. But St. Nicholas foresaw that a storm was approaching, of which he informed his fellow travellers, he also spoke of seeing the devil come on board in a vision to drag them down into the depths. When the fellow travelers heard this, they were horrified and asked St. Nicholas for help, he told them to have faith and trust in God would save them, then he prayed intensely to God. Immediately it settled down and a great calm settled over the ship, and sorrow turned to joy. The fellow travelers reciprocate in gratitude, thanksgiving to God and His servant Father Nicholas, they were also amazed at St. Nicholas' ability to foresee the approaching storm and how their distress ended. A little later, a sailor climbed to the top of a mast, when he was about to climb down, he slipped and fell from a great height to the deck of the ship. The sailor lay breathless and motionless on the deck, St. Nicholas revived the sailor with his prayer to God, and he rose as if he had been asleep.

Saint Nicholas died on December 6 sometime between the years 341 and 352.