Chapter VI: Varied Beneficent Activity

It will have been noted that St. Nicholas is not only the patron saint of youths, but is himself a youthful saint. His most distinctive deeds, at least the deeds about the memory of which have most been interwoven popular customs, are deeds performed by him as a young man. The distinctive feature about his election as bishop was that he was elected when a mere youth. But before his election as bishop he had already distinguished himself by his act of generosity in saving the three daughters of the impoverished nobleman. Also, according to the account of his life in the Roman Breviary, the act upon which is based his reputation as protector of seamen was accomplished by him as a young man when on a pious pilgrimage, on the return from which he was miraculously directed to Myra, there to be chosen bishop. In a way, then, the election as bishop forms a kind of climax to a series of youthful accomplishments.

But the life story of St. Nicholas differs from the typical saint’s legend in that it is not the record of one single achievement that absorbed all the energies of the story’s hero and whose accomplishment formed a dramatic close. On the contrary, as already remarked, his legend is made up of a series of beneficent acts, in part accomplished by the living saint, in part accomplished by him after death serving as a protecting spirit. Besides the youthful deeds already discussed, there remain to be recorded a number of others, some of them hardly less well known than the ones already considered, others not so widely known but of interest, not only in themselves, but as revealing the varied aspects of the kindness of St. Nicholas and showing the enduring character of his fame.

Alinari]

First there remain in the Golden Legend two well known stories that deserve to be included here. One of these, in which St. Nicholas accomplished an ultra-modern function, that of “Food Comptroller,” will make clear why he was popular as the patron saint of cities. The story goes:

It was so on a time that all the province of S. Nicolas suffered
great famine, in such wise that victual failed. And then this holy
man heard say that certain ships laden with wheat were arrived in
the haven. And anon he went thither and prayed the mariners that
they would succor the perished at least with an hundred muyes of
wheat of every ship. And they said: Father, we dare not, for it
is meted and measured, and we must give reckoning thereof in the
garners of the emperor in Alexandria. And the holy man said to
them: Do this that I have said to you, and I promise, in the truth
of God, that it shall not be lessened or minished when ye shall
come to the garners. And when they had delivered so much out of
every ship, they came into Alexandria and delivered the measure
that they had received. And then they recounted the miracle to the
ministers of the emperor, and worshiped and praised strongly God
and his servant Nicholas. Then the holy man distributed the wheat
to every man after that he had need, in such wise that it sufficed
for two years, not only for to sell, but also to sow.

The art of the early Italian painters in handling narrative subjects is once more admirably illustrated in the animated presentation of this story in the paintings by Lorenzetti and by Fra Angelico.

In another of the stories included in the Golden Legend, St. Nicholas twice appears in his favorite rôle as the protector of human life. The story, with double catastrophe, goes as follows:

And in this time certain men rebelled against the emperor; and
the emperor sent against them three princes, Nepotian, Ursyn, and
Apollyn. And they came into the port Adriatic for the wind, which
was contrary to them; and the blessed Nicholas commanded them to
dine with him, for he would keep his people from the ravin that
they made. And whilst they were at dinner, the consul, corrupt by
money, had commanded three innocent knights to be beheaded. And
when the blessed Nicholas knew this, he prayed these three princes
that they would much hastily go with him. And when they were come
where they should be beheaded, he found them on their knees, and
blindfold, and the righter brandished his sword over their heads.
Then S. Nicholas, embraced with the love of God, set him hardily
against the righter, and took the sword out of his hand, and threw
it from him, and unbound the innocents, and led them with him all
safe. And anon he went to the judgment to the consul, and found
the gates closed, which anon he opened by force. And the consul
came anon and saluted him: and this holy man having this salutation
in despite, said to him: Thou enemy of God, corrupter of the law,
wherefore hast thou consented to so great evil and felony, how
darest thou look on us? And when he had sore chidden and reproved
him, he repented, and at the prayer of the three princes he
received him to penance. After, when the messengers of the emperor
had received his benediction, they made their gear ready and
departed, and subdued their enemies to the empire without shedding
blood, and sith returned to the emperor, and were worshipfully
received. And after this it happed that some other in the emperor’s
house had envy on the weal of these three princes, and accused them
to the emperor of high treason, and did so much by prayer and by
gifts that they caused the emperor to be so full of ire that he
commanded them to prison, and without other demand, he commanded
that they should be slain that same night. And when they knew it by
their keeper, they rent their clothes and wept bitterly; and then
Nepotian remembered him how S. Nicholas had delivered the three
innocents, and admonested the others that they should require his
aid and help. And thus as they prayed S. Nicholas appeared to them
and after appeared to Constantine, the emperor, and said to him:
Wherefore hast thou taken these three princes with so great wrong,
and hast judged them to death without trespass? Arise up hastily,
and command that they be not executed, or I shall pray to God that
he move battle against thee, in which thou shalt be overthrown,
and shalt be made meat to beasts. And the emperor demanded: What
art thou that art entered by night into my palace and durst say to
me such words? And he said to him: I am Nicholas, bishop of Mirea.
And in like wise he appeared to the provost, and feared him, saying
with a fearful voice: Thou that hast lost mind and wit, wherefore
hast thou consented to the death of innocents? Go forth anon and do
thy part to deliver them, or else thy body shall rot, and be eaten
with worms, and thy meiny shall be destroyed. And he asked him: Who
art thou that so menacest me? And he answered: Know thou that I
am Nicholas, the bishop of the city of Mirea. Then that one awoke
that other, and each told to other their dreams, and anon sent for
them that were in prison, to whom the emperor said: What art magic
or sorcery can ye, that ye have this night by illusion caused us
to have such dreams? And they said that they were none enchanters
ne knew no witchcraft, and also that they had not deserved the
sentence of death. Then the emperor said to them: Know ye well a
man named Nicholas? And when they heard speak of the name of the
holy saint, they held up their hands toward heaven, and prayed our
Lord that by the merits of S. Nicholas they might be delivered of
this present peril. And when the emperor had heard of them the life
and miracles of S. Nicholas, he said to them: Go ye forth, and
yield ye thankings to God, which hath delivered you by the prayer
of this holy man, and worship ye him; and bear ye to him of your
jewels, and pray ye him that he threaten me no more, but that he
pray for me and for my realm unto our Lord. And a while after, the
said princes went unto the holy man, and fell down on their knees
humbly at his feet, saying: Verily thou art the sergeant of God,
and the very worshipper and lover of Jesu Christ. And when they
had all told this said thing by order, he lift up his hands to
heaven and gave thankings and praisings to God, and sent again the
princes, well informed, into their countries.

This story, although, so far as known, it does not form the subject of any of the St. Nicholas plays presented by medieval schoolboys, certainly possesses dramatic quality. The first intervention by the protecting saint provides suspense like that before the arrival of a reprieve on the stroke of twelve in a modern melodrama. The scene is strikingly presented in one of the Santa Croce frescoes. One of the young men is represented kneeling blindfolded awaiting the death stroke. The executioner holds his sword lifted, while St. Nicholas from behind grasps it by the point.

Also both this scene and the second scene in the story are represented in the celebrated Giottesque frescoes at Assisi. In the second scene there is represented a hall with straight ceiling supported by slender columns. In this hall the Emperor Constantine is lying asleep. Nicholas with uplifted hands approaches and commands him to free the three imprisoned princes. The latter, one sees below, behind a barred window, before which stands a great wooden cage.[65]

The twelfth-century life of St. Nicholas by Wace, written, as the reader is told in the opening lines, for the sake of the unlettered, to explain to them the purpose of the St. Nicholas festival newly instituted in the West, contains a number of episodes not included in the more or less official account in the Golden Legend. There is one story which seems like a variant version of that of the three murdered schoolboys, which itself is also included by Wace.[66] A merchant is on his way to visit the saint. On the journey he takes lodgings at an inn and in the night is murdered by the treacherous landlord. His body is cut to pieces and packed in a cask and salted like edible flesh. In the night St. Nicholas restores the merchant to life with his body entirely sound. In the morning the merchant appears, naturally to the astonishment of the landlord, who confesses and worships St. Nicholas.

Wace also includes a short story of how St. Nicholas freed a child possessed by the devil,[67] and still another incident, one more than usually filled with human interest, recorded in connection with the election of St. Nicholas as bishop. The story goes that the hostess at an inn where the youthful bishop-elect had stayed, was so overjoyed at the election, that she left her baby in a bath pan by the fire. In her absence the water boiled. The mother returned in fright but found her child safe and happy.

Alinari]

St. Nicholas in origin was an Oriental saint. In the Eastern Church at the present day his worship is more active than in western Europe. In countries like Greece of to-day there survive the conditions amid which St. Nicholas worship had its origin and amid which legendary stories of him were propagated. His ability to work miracles is still believed in by many a Greek peasant. The following remarkably circumstantial account of an incident supposed to have taken place on May 25, 1909, will illustrate the faith in the goodness and power of St. Nicholas still alive in certain parts of Greece.[68]

In a romantic situation, one quarter of an hour from the village of
Sparta in Elis, stands a fine monastery dedicated to St. Nicholas.
Every year on the 10th of May--the anniversary of the finding
of the saint’s ikon--there come to the monastery thousands of
worshipers from all parts of the Peloponnese, who bring various
offerings to the saint and remain several days in the romantic
monastery, worshiping the wonder-working ikon and celebrating the
annual festival.

Amongst this year’s worshipers’ was a peasant, John Doulos, from
the village of Bezaïté, who invoked the help of the saint on behalf
of Kyriakula, his young daughter, who was blind. He brought her to
worship at the shrine. The unfortunate girl had lost her sight on
Easter day, when she thought she saw a great fire before her eyes
and fell to the ground. From that moment she could see nothing. All
medical skill was of no avail, and the despairing Doulos determined
to take his daughter to the saint. They arrived at the monastery on
the Wednesday before the festival. Thursday and Friday, days and
nights, they spent inside the church kneeling before the ikon in
prayer and supplication. Suddenly about dawn on the Saturday, when
the worshipers in the church were numerous, Kyriakula arose, and
crossing herself, cried:

“Father, father, I see! There are the saint’s candles! There is the
ikon!”

A thrill of emotion ran through those present, and all joined with
the girl, whose sight had been restored, in worshiping the ikon of
the wonder-working saint. After remaining many hours to bless the
name of the saint, the healed girl left the church with her father
and joined in the festival. Then she returned to her village, and
her restored eyesight told better than words the saint’s miracle.