Children all over the world know all about Santa Claus,
the bearded man in the red suit and his magical ways but few know how Santa got his many names:
St Nicholas, Santa, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle.

The name Nicholas translates as Victory to the people’.
‘Santa’ is the Latin word for ‘holy’, and
‘Klaus’ (or Claus) is a simplification of the name ‘Nicholas’.
The tag Kris Kringle is a synonym for ‘like the Christ’.

St Nicholas was born around 270AD in Greece, Asia Minor. He became bishop of Myra in Turkey and was well known for both his habit of giving away his inherited possessions to the poor and his jovial nature. He had a white beard (- in those days all priests and bishops had beards! Today in the church all Orthodox bishops must have beards!)

Bishop Nicholas once heard of a man in his diocese who was very poor and could not raise the dowry for the weddings of his three daughters. Nicholas knew that if there was no dowry, there would be no wedding and if no wedding the girls would be sold into slavery. Nicholas, on the night before Christmas, secretly threw three small bags of gold into the man’s house and the girls were free to marry.

Over the centuries Nicholas has been hailed as patron saint of brides, grooms, children, sailors, Greece, Russia and Galway and, would you believe, pawnbrokers!

Can you work out from the above how he got to be named patron of pawnbrokers?
(Clue: what signs hang outside pawnbrokers shops?)

Ultimately Santa is a symbol of Jesus, who offers us the great gift of eternal life that lasts forever .

These three wise guys are already on the way – do you know who they are?

Come Lord Jesus

Adapted from Rev. Bernard Cotter, Scandalous Saints, and Sinners