The True Saint Nicholas: Why He Matters to Christmas (William J. Bennett book)

For this year’s Christmas post, thoughts on another great, fun Christmas book.  Last Christmas I read Letters from Father Christmas for the first time (and in audio book format).  See this previous post.

This December, I have read another enjoyable book, one that tells us a lot about a famous Christmas tradition, including its original story and the legends that have come about in the 1600 years since then, legends and traditions from medieval times as well as in recent centuries and here and now as people in the USA and other countries observe Christmas.  The True Saint Nicholas: Why He Matters to Christmas, by William J. Bennett, is a delightful small book — at 112 pages an easy and pleasant read.  There are other, longer books that provide detailed histories of the true Bishop, Saint Nicholas of Myra, but this one in a well-written, brief form provides us the history of Saint Nicholas himself, as well as the history of the legend of Saint Nicholas, tracing the path through the centuries and including all the legends from earliest time, down to today’s Father Christmas in England and the history and development of Christmas as a holiday in the United States (starting in the early 19th century) and the character of Santa Claus.

The basic information about Nicholas and his life is presented first, including the years he lived, the basic life events, and including his involvement at the First Ecumenical Council held in 325 AD in Nicaea, and how he became so infuriated at the heretic Arius and his lies that he slapped Arius across the face – for which he was censured by the other bishops and not allowed to remain for the rest of the council; and per a later vision that several other bishops had, Nicholas was later restored to his position.

Also included here is the story of the true Saint Nicholas, that he wanted to give away his money and sought for needs and situations, and learned about a family that had been well-off but had fallen on hard times and lost their money and was now desperately poor.  The father had three unmarried daughters, but now nothing to provide for their dowries, to arrange good marriages for them and saw the only option as to sell them into servitude.  Nicholas, the story goes, went by the house late at night and through an open window tossed a few gold coins – enough for them to pay off their debts and live with adequate provision, and for the first daughter to have a dowry.  Later on, when the second daughter was of age for a dowry, Nicholas again visited the house and tossed the gold coins in the window, to pay for her dowry.  He returned again a third time in the same manner, with the gold coins for the third daughter’s dowry.  That time, the father managed to race after and track down who his anonymous benefactor was; and Nicholas requested that the father keep his identity secret.

This book is truly delightful, in its tone and writing, simply telling the wonder of all the great stories and legends, of how Nicholas became a “patron saint” for those traveling at sea during storms, for merchants, and in later years as a saint who especially loved children.  The history of names is also interesting, such as how the Dutch name Sinterklaas came down to America as “Santa Claus,” and the “Dutch connection” in early 19th century American history, when a man in New York City, taking interest in his city’s heritage and the Dutch ancestors of the city, promoted and publicized the cultural history, of how the Dutch families and children had observed their Christmases.

Throughout, this book exudes the sense of wonder and enchantment and the basic values of a life properly lived in harmony with other people and toward God.  I especially liked how he addressed the “anti-Santa” issue of modern times, the valid concern that many people today have toward the excess consumerism focus:

Most tiny tots with their eyes all aglow spend Christmas Eve wondering about the mystery of flying reindeer, not the mystery of the Nativity. Santa long ago exchanged his bishop’s robes and miter for a jolly red suit and pointed cap. Saint Nicholas himself received a blow in 1969 when the Vatican, concluding that his reputation was based more on legend than historical fact, removed him from the ranks of major Catholic saints and made his feast day optional. (In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Nicholas remains one of the most widely venerated saints.)

Some overseas critics resent Santa’s popularity. American soldiers began introducing him to foreign lands during the First and Second World Wars. Hollywood movies and television shows helped spread his fame around the globe. In many countries, people adopted him into their Christmas celebrations.

Where Santa Claus has pushed aside local customs, protests have naturally followed. Small but vocal groups deride him as a purveyor of crass American consumerism, a cheap knock-off of Saint Nicholas. Santa has been burned in effigy before French Sunday-school children. An Anglican vicar once accused him of being a thief who “is stealing the true value of Christmas.” Towns in the Netherlands and Belgium have been known to stage mock arrests of Santa Claus and forbid him to appear until after December 6, Saint Nicholas Day. A group of anti-Santa German Catholics has called him “a pack horse of consumer society, nothing more.”

The author, William J. Bennett, acknowledges that “Santa is here to stay,” and points to what is perhaps the most famous editorial in the history of American journalism, the 1897 essay “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” including a few paragraph excerpts from that classic letter.

Moderation, balance and proper perspective is of key importance:  there is nothing wrong with exchanging gifts at Christmastime…. It is when we lose a sense of moderation, when Santa’s bag overflows with too many goodies, that the gift-giving and receiving becomes a problem. As the ancient philosophers remind us, there is a proper measure in all things.

Bennett again notes that there was always a commercial, material connection with Saint Nicholas.  Ship captains and merchants looked to Saint Nicholas for profitable voyages and lucrative merchant deals.  Trade guilds appropriated him in hopes of selling more buttons, barrels, and boots. Hymns proclaimed his power to satisfy: “If anyone place himself before thy painted image, Nicholas, he will have what he wants.” Youngsters looked to the kindly bishop for gain. “Saint Nicholas, my good patron, bring me something good!” ran one old French children’s song.

In the end, we can see in the story of Saint Nicholas and later versions such as Santa Clause, “A Legacy of God’s Love,” the title of the last chapter of The True Saint Nicholas: Why He Matters to Christmas. The stories of Saint Nicholas / Santa Claus are arguably true in a more important way.

They are morally true. They offer generosity, kindness, justice, and self-sacrifice over avarice, cruelty, injustice, and self-indulgence. They are about the celebration of human closeness and decency, and the caring for others. They are about families at the hearth. In their totality, they are about the raising of sights and efforts toward a better life.

The image of Saint Nicholas has changed many times through the years. He has always reflected people’s longings and needs, whether that be a handful of grain, a safe port in a storm, or a gesture of love. Santa Claus is part of that evolving image. At his best, he stands for virtues that Saint Nicholas champions: compassion, service, selflessness, largeness of spirit.

There is one essential truth in the stories of Nicholas and Santa Claus: the goodness of the gift offered with no expectation of anything in return. The value of three bags tossed through a window in Patara long ago does not lie in the gold they contained. The act of giving and the effects of the act make those bags priceless. That same spirit lives in our time in a parent or other adult who with secret joy watches a wonder-struck child discover on Christmas morning that Santa has paid a nighttime visit.

Santa Claus is, in a very real sense, the result of a Christ-inspired goodness that has rippled across seventeen centuries, from Nicholas’s time to our own. Despite secularization and commercialization, Santa Claus is a manifestation of Nicholas’s decision to give to others. The history of Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus is a kind of miracle in itself. It is a legacy that resonates with God’s love.

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