This Friday, Dec. 6, is the Feast of St. Nicholas, who has been popularized as Santa Claus. Nicholas was born in 270 AD in Asia Minor, present-day Turkey. During the persecution by the Emperor Diocletian, he was imprisoned. After Constantine’s victory, making him the new emperor, Nicholas was released from prison. He would eventually become a priest and then a bishop.
   
As a bishop, he attended the Council of Nicaea, one of the most important councils in the history of the Church. The great controversy at that Council was the two natures of Christ, human and divine. A very popular bishop, named Arius, the founder of Arianism, was teaching that Christ was not co-eternal with the Father, but that He was a creation of the Father, like human beings. This was a fierce battle at the time, threatening to bring about a great schism. There are stories, not historically established, that in debating Arius, Nicholas punched the heretic in the nose.
   
Nicholas was known for his great generosity. The most important story tells of a poor man with three daughters. He had no money to provide a dowry for them, so they were condemned to a life of spinsterhood. Three different times he went past the home of this family and tossed in a bag of money, allowing each of them to marry. From this, we gain the idea of Santa Claus bringing gifts to children on Christmas.