What would you like to know about Saint Nicholas? This unique new program makes a perfect gift for a friend, family member or for yourself.

Most everyone in North America, and many other people around the world, celebrate Christmas day with attention to children and emphasis on gifts that appear somewhat mysteriously. In Europe, Saint Nicholas may make an appearance, according to ancient tradition. In the United States, Santa Claus has emerged as a transformation of Saint Nicholas.

What do we know about Saint Nicholas, the saint with more churches dedicated in his name than any other, except the Blessed Virgin Mary? What can be said about legends of the saints, stories of miracles, myths born of happenstance and fertile imagination? Why celebrate Christmas with such ritual, with feasting and gifts?

Join Fr. Nicholas Ayo, Professor Emertus from Notre Dame and a Now You Know Media Teaching Excellence Award recipient, in exploring the remarkable life and stories of this beloved saint.

Although we lack much historical evidence about Saint Nicholas, stories and legends about his life and works abound. Who was Saint Nicholas? That there was a Saint Nicholas can be judged plausible, and the best evidence remains the church in Myra, built in his name, where he was thought to be a highly regarded bishop.

“Nicholas in Myra by the Sea” (in present-day Turkey) will contemplate the origins of devotion to Saint Nicholas. Fr. Ayo will examine his purported biography as bishop in the first decades of Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire.

“Nicholas in Bari by the Sea” represents the medieval story of Saint Nicholas, told through a collection of Nicholas stories. Sailors who took him away from Muslim territory had brought his body to Italy in 1087. Bari became the great shrine of Saint Nicholas.

“Nicholas in Manhattan by the Sea” is the contemporary story of Nicholas in the New World. Washington Irving’s Knickerbocker History of New York City, a spoof with Saint Nicholas in prominent roles, was taken to be factual by many readers. Explore these and other American stories of Saint Nicholas.

Through these talks, you will see Saint Nicholas through his legendary stories and their impact on our customs and culture in the First World. Professor Ayo will help reconcile “Holiday Greetings” with “Merry Christmas” – the secular holiday with the religious holy day.

Nicholas Ayo is a priest in the Congregation of Holy Cross and Professor Emeritus at The University of Notre Dame. He received the S.T.L. degree from Gregorian University in Rome and a Ph.D. in literature from Duke University. He was the Director of Novices for the Congregation of Holy Cross in North America for six years and taught in the Great Books Program at the University of Notre Dame until 2004. Examples of his many books include: Saint Nicholas in America: Christmas Holy Day and Holiday, available through Corby Books, The Creed as Symbol, The Lord’s Prayer, The Hail Mary: A Verbal Icon, and his most recent book, Gloria Patri: The History and Theology of the Lesser Doxology. Photo by Matt Cashore

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• The Story of Saint Nicholas and the Three Maidens

• Saint Nicholas in Myra and Bari on the Sea

• The Story of Saint Nicholas and the Three Children

• Saint Nicholas in Manhattan by the Sea: Part I

• The Story of Saint Nicholas and the Grain Shipments

• The Story of Saint Nicholas and Sailors in a Storm/Three Officers in Jail

• Saint Nicholas in Manhattan by the Sea: Part II

• The Balm of Saint Nicholas

• The Story Saint Nicholas and the Story of the Stolen Gold

• Gifts and Gifting

• Claus Schlaschenschlinger: Part One

• Claus Schlaschenschlinger: Part Two

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