St Nicholas(Santa)

St Nicholas’ biography

St Nicholas was born in the third century and lived in a seaside town called Myra in Turkey. He was the only son of wealthy parents named Epiphanius and Johanna. His family taught him to help the poor. His parents died when he was young and he was brought up by his uncle, who was the bishop of Patara. When he was a child he loved God more than anything in the world so he followed God by helping the poor. Everyone in the town loved him so much that when the old bishop died they immediately made him bishop. He was their bishop for a long time.

How St Nicholas becameSanta Claus

St Nicholas loved to help people and when he found out that a poor man in his village did not have enough money to pay his daughters dowry, St Nicholas threw a sack of money through the window. When the man’s second daughter had to get married, he threw another sack of money through the window. Each time he did this, he made sure nobody saw him. With the last daughter, St Nicholas actually threw the sack of money down the chimney because the poor man locked his windows so he could find out who was helping him! This started the legend ofSanta.

How the story spread

Stories about St Nicholas spread from Turkey to Russia and other parts of northern Europe, such as Germany and France. As stories about him were passed on, he became famous throughout the rest of the world including America and Australia. In America he is known as Santa Claus. In Australia we call him Father Christmas and in Italy they call him Babbo Natale.

Gifts of the Holy Spirit

St Nicholas was an amazing person because he possessed all seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

WISDOM

He knew to give money to the poor without letting them know so that they would not feel bad about receiving charity.

WONDER + AWE

St Nicholas was in awe of God and always wanted to please him. All his charity work came from this.

COURAGE

St Nicholas showed courage by never being scared or fearful of what might happen to him if people didn’t understand his actions.

UNDERSTANDING

St Nicholas had the gift of understanding as he knew how to treat people and knew the right way to live according to God.

REVERENCE

St Nicholas always showed reverence to God by obeying the laws or rules of the church. He also showed reverence to everyone he met by respecting them as human beings.

RIGHT JUDGMENT

St Nicholas always chose to live a good life by doing actions that would please God and other people. He always chose to help people and not to sin.

KNOWLEDGE

St Nicholas understood the meaning and purpose of his life and knew what God had planned for him. He understood that he would dedicate his life helping the poor.

Bibliography

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas• http://

www.loyolapress.com/search-result.aspx?s=St+Nicholas

• http://www.articlesbase.com/childhood-education-articles/the-story-of-st-nicholas-the-real-santa-claus-5392209.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ab_paid_12&gclid=CN3F88eC-bUCFbBZpgod6hcAUQ