Friday, December 6, 2024

Nicholas, the Saint Who Became an Elf


+Russian Icon Painter, Saint Nicholas the Wonder Worker
Russian, c. 1300
St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum





Happy Feast of Saint Nicholas, the real saint who became Santa Claus!  


I have collected some images of this popular saint that offer a visual explanation of his fascinating history.  

Nicholas started out as a devout Christian in a time when that could cost one's life.  Later he became a charitable and strong-minded bishop who became the patron saint of mariners.  He was given the title "The Wonder Worker" in the eastern Church and was extremely popular in the western Church as well.


But in the last 200 years he has somehow become a jolly old elf.  Here is a short visual history of how this happened.









Iconography of Saint Nicholas

There are several strands in the iconography of Saint Nicholas.  The simplest are images that depict him as a bishop or bishop-saint.  In theses he is frequently seen holding the crozier, the symbol of the role of shepherd of souls which is the duty of a bishop, the miter, which is the distinctive headgear of a bishop, and often one to three golden balls, which represent the alms which the real life Nicholas gave to needy young women as dowries.  These images persist the longest.

The story of that benefaction is one of the most popular of images of Saint Nicholas.

However, there are other images that were often extremely popular representations of this particular saint.  These involve more legendary events supposed to have been actions of the saint.  Among these are the rescue and resuscitation of three young men or boys who had been murdered and pickled by an unscrupulous butcher during a famine, the rescue of mariners at sea during a violent storm, the punishment of a cruel prior and of three condemned men.


Nicholas as Bishop and Saint



+Medallion with Bust of Saint Nicholas
Byzantine, 9th Century
London, British Museum
This is a medallion intended for enameling, but apparently unfinished. The image is created by the little strips of metal, in this case gold, that create a sort of line drawing of the image.  Each little cell will be filled with the enamel paste, containing ground glass and pigment.  When each segment is filled the whole will be heated until the paste has reached the point at which it becomes solidified to create the finished enamelwork.



Saint Nicholas
From the Melisande Psalter
Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, c. 1131-1143
London, British Library
MS Egerton 1139, fol. 209r





Saint Nicholas With Angels and Pilgrims
German, c. 1246-1255
Soest, Catholic Chapel of Saint Nicholas






+Saint Nicholas, Stained Glass Window
Austrian, c. 1340-1350
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Cloisters Collection





*Giovanni di Benededtto and Workshop, Saint Nicholas
From a Book of Hours
Italian (Milan), c. 1385-1390
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 757, fol. 396v






*Pietro di Giovanni d'Ambrogio, Saint Nicholas of Bari
Italian, c. Mid-1430s
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art






*Master of the Hours of Louis of Savoy, Scenes from the Life of Saint Nicholas
From the Hours of Louis of Savoy
French (Savoy), c. 1445-1460
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 9473, fol. 177v




*Saint Nicholas
German, c. 1520
Munich, Cathedral of Our Lady





Hans Georg Asam, Saint Nicholas in Glory
German, c. 1686-1687
Benediktbeuern, Church of Saint Benedikt







Saint Nicholas of Myra
Peruvian, 18th Century
Private Collection






Ordination of Saint Nicholas as Bishop



*Mahiet and Workshop, Saint Nicholas Anointed as Bishop
From a Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais
French (Paris), c. 1335
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Ms-5080 réserve, fol. 307v






*Master of the Livre du Sacre and Workshop, Saint Nicholas Anointed as Bishop
From a Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais
French (Paris), c. 1370-1380
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS NAF 15942, fol. 18v





*After a design by Jacob Corneliszoon van Oostsanen, Glass Panel of the Anointing of Saint Nicholas as Bishop
Dutch, 16th Century
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Department of Medieval Art





Stories About Saint Nicholas


The Provision of Dowries


This story from the life of Saint Nicholas is judged by to be the most likely to be something that really happened by many scholars. It tells us that while still a young man, not a bishop, Nicholas became aware of the plight of a poor family with three daughters and no son.  In order to marry each girl needed a dowry.  The dowry was comprised of money, especially gold, and was considered necessary by the family of any potential bridegroom.  The girls father could not provide even one  sum and certainly not three.  Without a husband the girls would have very little financial support when their father died and would, therefore, have to become servants or prostitutes, practically the only options available for a woman in this kind of situation.  Taking pity on them Nicholas, whose family was rich, gave three bags or purses of coins to the family.  In order to remain anonymous in his generosity he threw the bags through the window of their house at night.  All four inhabitants are usually shown in bed.  This makes the illustrations of his deed so interesting.



Saint Nicholas Providing the Dowries
Italian, c. 1278-1279
Rome, Lateran Palace, Chapel of the Sancta Sanctorum




+Saint Nicholas Providing Dowries for the Three Girls
From Livre d'images de Madame Marie
Flemish (Hainaut), c. 1285-1290
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS  NAF 16251, fol. 90v





+Ambrogio Lorenzetti, The Charity of Saint Nicholas
Italian, c. 1330-1340
Paris, Musée du Louvre




+Bicci di Lorenzo, Saint Nicholas Providing Dowries
Italian, c. 1433-1435
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art




*Mahiet and Workshop, Saint Nicholas Giving Alms
From a Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais
French (Paris), c. 1335
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Ms-5080 réserve, fol. 307r




*Saint Nicholas Giving Alms
From a Legenda aurea by Jacobus de Voragine
German, 1362
Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
MS Cgm 6, fol. 8r






*Giovanni di Benededtto and Workshop, Saint Nicholas Giving Alms
From a Missal
Italian (Milan), c. 1385-1390
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 757, fol. 363v





Master of Jean Rolin or Master of the Dunois Hours, Charity of Saint Nicholas
From the Hours of Simon de Varie
French (Paris), 1455
The Hague, Koninklijk Bibliotheek
MS KB 74 G 37, fol. 84r





+Henri de Vermay II, Saint Nicholas Giving Dowries to the Three Girls
French, c. 1630
Valenciennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts





Saint Nicholas Rescuing Three Boys From the Pickling Barrel

This odd story is usually considered to be a fable, although fables are frequently based on actual fact.  In this story there is a serious famine in the city of Myra. During the famine, an evil, but enterprising, butcher selected three of the less emaciated boys (or youths or young clerics) killed them and placed their bodies in barrels of his pickling brine, intending to pass them off as ham and ham substitutes.  In prayer Saint Nicholas had a vision of their location.  Going to the butcher shop he opened the barrels and prayed for the boys to come to life again, which they did.

This particular story was widely popular and examples survive from a very long period of time.



*Saint Nicholas and the Three Boys
From a Lectionary
French, 12th Century
Charleville-Mézières, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 0258 (vol. 01)




*Saint Nicholas and the Three Pickled Boys
English, First Half of the 14th Century
York, Minster




Saint Nicholas Rescuing the Three Boys
From the Stowe Breviary
English (Norwich), c. 1322-1325
London, British Library
MS Stowe 12, fol. 225




*Richard de Montbaston, Saint Nicholas Saves the Three Boys
From a Legenda aurea by Jacobus de Voragine
French (Paris), 1348
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 241, fol. 10v



*Master of the Mazarine, Saint Nicholas and the Three Boys
From a Book of Hours
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 10538, fol. 223r





+Gentile da Fabriano, Saint Nocolas Rescuing the Three Young Men
Italian, 1425
Vatican City State, Pinacoteca Vaticana





+Bicci di Lorenzo, Saint Nicholas Rescuing Three Youths
Italian, c. 1433-1435
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art




*Saint Nicholas and the Three Boys
From a Book of Hours
French, c. 1450-1475
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 1175, fol. 146v




+The Rambures Master, Saint Nicholas and the Three Boys
From a Book of Hours
French (Amiens), c. 1455-1465
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M 194, fol.152v



*Georges Trubert, Saint Nicholas and the Three Boys
From the Diurnal of Rene, King of Sicily
French (Nancy), c. 1492-1493
Paris, Bbiliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 10491, fol. 217v




*Saint Nicholas with the Three Boys in the Pickling Tub
Flemish, c. 1500
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Department of Medieval Art




+Jean Bourdichon, Saint Nicholas and the Three Boys
From Grandes heures d'Anne de Bretagne
French (Tours), c. 1503-1508
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Latin 9474, fol. 183v





The Rescue of Sailors in a Violent Storm

Another popular iconographic subject was the rescue of mariners from a violent storm at sea.


*Master of the Livre du Sacre and Workshop, Saint Nicholas Saving Mariners
From a Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais
French (Paris), c. 1370-1380
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS NAF 15942, fol. 18v






*Gentile da Fabriano, Saint Nicholas Saving a Ship
Italian, 1425
Vatican City, Pinacoteca Vaticana




*Master Francois and Workshop, The Miracle of Saint Nicholas, Saving the Sailors
From a Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais
French (Paris), 1463
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 51, fol. 118r



*After a design by Jacob Corneliszoon van Oostsanen, Glass Panel of Saint Nicholas as Patron of Sailors
Dutch, 16th Century
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Department of Medieval Art






The Cruel Prior

Another story about the activities of Saint Nicholas comes from the Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais, a thirteenth century Dominican scholar, who wrote what amounted to a compendium of all knowledge as it stood at that time.  In other words, a medieval encyclopedia.

In this story, the prior of a monastery was cruel to the monks under his jurisdiction.  So, they prayed for the intercession of God, who sent Saint Nicholas (already deceased and in heaven) to punish the cruel prior.  This Saint Nicholas did by hauling the prior out of bed and beating him with a switch.

It seems likely that this rather astonishing story is the origin of the switch sometimes found in their stockings or shoes by bad girls and boys (along with some coal perhaps) following a visit from Saint Nicholas.



*Mahiet and Workshop, The Cruel Prior
From a Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais
French (Paris), c. 1335
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Ms-5080 réserve, fol. 312r




*Master Francois and Workshop, The Miracle of Saint Nicholas, The Cruel Prior
From a Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais
French (Paris), 1463
Par, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 51, fol. 122r





The Transformation into Santa Claus

In the course of the nineteenth century, in both Europe and America, Saint Nicholas began to transform from the strictly religious bishop into something a bit different.  He never quite lost his religious overtones in Europe, in spite of the hostility to saints in the Protestant countries; while in America he transformed into something entirely different, a jolly old elf, with virtually no overtones of his religious origins.

In Nineteenth-Century Europe

Saint Nicholas, Reworked from a 16th Century Portrait of Charles V
Dutch, c. 1814-1830
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum


Brepols and Dierckxzoon, Saint Nicholas
Dutch, c. 1850-1900
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum


Jan de Haan, Entry of Saint Nicholas
Dutch, 1870
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum


Sinterklaas in a Bookstore
Dutch, 1873
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum




*Willy Sluiter, Jaarbeurs
Cover of De Nieuwe Amsterdamer, 2 March 1918
Dutch, 1918
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum





*Andreas Untersberger, Alter Freund Sankt Nikolaus
From Fliegende Blaetter, 159.1923, No. 4090, p. 197
German (Munich),. 1923
Heidelberg, The Heidelberg University Library
In this German version of an early 20th century Saint Nicholas, the vestments and regalia of a bishop have been swapped for an American style Santa hat, but the figure of Saint Nicholas is shown arranging the figures of a creche scene, so it remains distinctly within the Christian context.



In the United States

While the European Sinterklaas retained some of his bishop's attire, the American version turned him into something else.  By the middle of the twentieth century he had become merely an elf in a sleigh drawn by reindeer.



Arthur J. Stansbury, The Children's Friend
American, 1821
New York, William Gilley and Company



This is, no doubt, due to the influence of the poem published in 1844 and written by the New Yorker Clement Clarke Moore called "A Visit From Saint Nicholas".  The poem describes not a solemn bishop who rides a horse but a tiny elf who drives a miniature sleigh loaded with toys and powered by a team of "eight tiny reindeer".  You can read the poem here:  https://poets.org/poem/visit-st-nicholas  However, it is clear from the 1821 illustration just above that an idea similar to this had been in circulation twenty years before the poem was published.

American illustrators and artists were quick to give visual form to the image conjured up by the popular poem.


Illustration for "T'was the Night Before Christmas" 
Poem by Clement Clark Moore
Boston, L. Prang and Company, 1864, Page 11
Illustration for "T'was the Night Before Christmas"
Poem by Clement Clark Moore
Boston, L. Prang and Company, 1864, Page 12


Thomas Nast, Illustration for "T'was the Night Before Christmas" by Clement Clark Moore
American, 1869
New York, McLoughlin Brothers


Thomas Nast, Merry Old Santa Claus
Illustration from Harper's Weekly
American, 1881


Christmas Postcard
American, Early 20th Century
New York, New York Public Library Digital Collection


Christmas Postcard
American, c. 1900-1919
New York, New York Public Library Digital Collection



Santa was given his definitive American form by two illustrators who worked for The Saturday Evening Post in the first half of the twentieth century, J. C. Leyendecker and Norman Rockwell.


J.C. Leydendecker, Santa Behind a Window
The Saturday Evening Post
American, 1919


Norman Rockwell, Christmas
The Saturday Evening Post
American, 1927
Note that this Santa has a halo, linking him with his religious past.


By the middle of the century, Santa was very much the figure we see today.  A memorable and long-running series of ads for Coca Cola only cemented this persona in people's minds.


Haddon Sundblom, "They Knew What I Wanted"
American, 1945


The only reminder of his real life and sanctity were: his red suit, an echo of the red vestments worn at Masses on the feast days of martyred saints; his pointy hat, an echo of the bishop's miter, but of softer material; his appearance at night and his generosity.

© M. Duffy, 2017.  In 2024 I added much new material and refreshed many images from the original publication.
+ Indicates an updated image.
* Indicates a new image.

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