Saint Nicholas: The Real Story (2015) | Full Movie

beautiful beaches anywhere in the world. It's now a popular tourist destination in modern Turkey. In this program, historian and expert on this region, Dr. Mark Wilson, leads us on a journey to discover the truth about the man we call Santa Claus. We're on a quest to follow the trail of one of the most important people in history. At times that trail is almost non-existent, but we're going to do our best to reconstruct the lifetimes and legacy of someone who is a household name all over the world today. When I say the name St. Nicholas, I'm sure it triggers various images in your mind. Your image largely depends on what you've been taught or where you grew up. Our endeavor in this journey is to help you discover the real St. Nicholas, Nicholas of Myra. The American Santa Claus clearly derives from St. Nicholas, but the differences between those two are important. Nicholas, we should never forget, was a real historical person, whereas Santa Claus is the creation of family tradition and the holiday spirit. Our journey begins in Patara, one of my favorite ancient cities in Turkey. Patara was the primary port of the Roman province of Lycia. Today its harbor is silted and a beach blocks its entrance. But in the first century, the Apostle Paul landed here on his third missionary journey, and that's very important to our story, which I'll explain later. The region of Lycia was in southwestern Asia Minor. Patara was once the capital of the Lycian nation, but fell to Alexander the Great in 333 BC. Then, in 167 BC, Lycia came under Roman rule. Ports in this region of ancient Lycia were major trade routes for the Greeks and Romans. The Emperor Hadrian built large granaries here to house wheat that was transported all the way from Egypt to Rome. But interestingly, the Romans granted the city its freedom, probably because they recognized its sophisticated manner of democratic government. One of the visual reminders of the Lycian civilization today are the tombs. Can you tell us about this interesting people? Yes, it's all around us actually, and we see them all the time. Not only the rock-cut tombs, but also freestanding ones. And it's very interesting that some of the epigraphy on these tombs has been read, and it says if anybody who is not of this family uses these tombs, may they be cursed forever. So, we know that they also believed in life after death, definitely. And the freestanding tombs are built exactly like a house, a house made of logs. And still today in the mountains, we have small wooden structures like this, where they keep the hay, which are exactly like these tombs. These are the remains of the lighthouse of Patara, built by the Emperor Nero. Until recently, it was buried in the sand. But as you can see, it's now been completely excavated. Archaeologists believe that its height was 100 feet tall, and that it was built in AD 64, a few years after the Apostle Paul landed here. Today, it serves as an iconic reminder of the importance of this forgotten city. A few years after his visit to Patara, the Apostle Paul traveled through Lycia again, this time as a prisoner. Here at Andriache, the port of Myra, his Roman guard transferred him to an Alexandrian grain ship bound for Rome. It was this same vessel that was shipwrecked off the coast of Malta. Threatened by the growth of Christianity, the Emperor Nero began a period of great persecution of Christians. And in AD 65, Peter and Paul were executed in Rome. At several different points, there was a major persecution under Nero in the 60s, under Domitian in the 90s, and then there were several other major ones as well. The effort to crush Christianity was carried out by emperor after emperor. Persecution began under Theseus around 250, when Themistocles, the bishop of Myra, was martyred. Another persecution initiated by Valerian eight years later resulted in the deaths of Paragorius and Leo of Patara. During periods of persecution, Christians responded in a variety of different ways. Of course, some of them remained very faithful. They actively witnessed to Christ in spite of the persecution. In fact, some of them even courted, martyred him by trying to be sought out by the authorities. But what crime caused the deaths of these men? Simply, they refused to make public sacrifice to the Roman deities. It was around AD 260, into this small, besieged Christian community, that Nicholas was born. Nicholas was born in Patara in the mid-third century. However, the exact date and year of his birth are not known. But he certainly was born into a vibrant Greek community. In fact, his name in the Greek language has a profound meaning, victory of the people. Ahead, we'll see just how Nicholas lived up to that name. Nicholas's parents were successful in business. They were wealthy and probably traded with merchants passing through this prosperous city. His family had embraced Christianity. No doubt, Nicholas grew up learning about the Apostle Paul's visits here. Perhaps Paul or some of his followers were even responsible for the first Christian converts in this area. And now, young Nicholas was a part of that growing movement, the church. But how can we know anything about St. Nicholas? There seem to be so many confusing stories about him. The puzzle regarding Nicholas began in the 9th or 10th century when an author mistakenly, or perhaps deliberately, combined stories about two bishops called Nicholas who lived 200 years apart. St. Nicholas, who eventually became known as Nicholas of Myra, was often confused with Nicholas of Sion because there were similarities to their stories. The man who spent years sorting this out lives in Italy. The St. Nicholas Study Center in Bari, Italy was founded in 1990 by Dr. Gerardo Cioffari. Dr. Cioffari is a Dominican priest whose studies in recent years have brought clarity to our understanding of the real St. Nicholas. Cioffari has been able to unravel the confusion between St. Nicholas and Nicholas of Sion. And when we have discovered other manuscripts of St. Nicholas of Sion, we have now the possibility, without mistake, to distinguish what is St. Nicholas of Myra and what is St. Nicholas of Sion. But experts in the last century weren't entirely convinced that Nicholas of Myra was even a real person. The three names, Charles Jones and Gustav Anrich and then Karl Meisen, who really studied the evidence and the material for Nicholas, all came away saying, we don't know that we can even trust that there was a real person named Nicholas who actually existed. This is the importance then of Father Gerardo Cioffari, who in the 1980s reopened the case and re-investigated those same documents and far more than those documents. And he was able to reassert that there indeed was a historical person named Nicholas who lived and did many of the things that we have attributed to him. And he was able to establish that with a great degree of historical certainty. Dr. Cioffari's research has revealed a distinction between the two Nicholases in ancient Greek texts. It's very clear. Agios is a saint, bishop, or normal saint, so to say. Osios is a saint for monks. After the distinction of the two saints, we can say that our St. Nicholas is Agios, the other one is Osios. Cioffari believes that the distinction between the two men can also be seen by examining events in their lives. For example, Nicholas of Zion went to Myra in the occasion of the feast of St. Nicholas of Myra. It was not possible to be the same person. Now we have St. Nicholas of Myra, a real concrete person interested in a very real question of human life. The other one, St. Nicholas of Zion, was a monk. Carol Myers has dedicated years to the study of Nicholas, and she's responsible for creating one of the best public resources about him. It's a website, stnicholascenter.org. St. Nicholas stories and legends have grown up around a real man. And over time, those stories have enlarged and shifted, but they're rooted in the character of the man. And if it hadn't been that there was something so extraordinary about this person, there never would have developed the interest, the devotion, and the spread of his fame and legends and stories. But nothing appears to have been written about Nicholas during his lifetime. Experts can only guess why. It may be because he escaped the Roman executioner and died a natural death that so little fanfare was made about him. But it's more likely the documents were destroyed during the iconoclastic period in the 9th century or during the Crusades. All we know is that very few documents have ever been found. So we have to be sincere. We don't know very much about St. Nicholas. We know very much about the history, but not about the man, Nicholas, very little. But this very little is true. Dr. Cioffari's research has formed a more accurate picture of Nicholas's life. For example, in Russia, it's very difficult. After my conferences in Moscow and Kiev, they've started to write new lives, taking away Nicholas of Zion. But it's not easy because iconography, even here in the ceiling of the church, there are many, many apocryphal Nicholas of Zion episodes. So there is a real existential problem between iconography that we have to take away all many of these episodes. Cioffari says we need to look at all the evidence with a critical eye. While some details come from factual sources, other facts with historical value were handed down by oral tradition. And some writers obviously took great license and embellished the truth. In the library that we know now, we have to distinguish the two episodes of the Praxis Stratellatis and the other. These two are historically sure. The other is historically sure only in their core, not in the details. So what do we know about the life of St. Nicholas? We've established that he was raised here in Petara by a Christian family. It's speculated that his parents died when he was young because of an epidemic or a plague. But we know for sure that his parents left him a considerable sum of money. The event that probably had the most to determine how Nicholas developed was the death of his parents when he was still young, whether he was in his late teens or early 20s. If you've ever heard of Santa Claus, you'll probably recognize the next part of this story. You have to picture Nicholas as a young man, not yet a bishop, not yet a priest. He was looking for purpose in his life and for meaning and something to do with his life when he heard the story of a man in the city of Petara who had recently lost everything. He was financially ruined. He had three daughters and they were of marriageable age. But in that time and that part of the world, if you didn't have money for a dowry, the payment that a woman would have to bring into a marriage, you could not be married. And so these three daughters couldn't marry. And without any means of providing for his daughters, the father struggled with the idea of sending them into prostitution. Nicholas decided to intervene. He didn't want to be known or specially called out for his acts of generosity. So in the middle of the night, he slipped out under cover of darkness and he threw a bag of gold coins through the window into the house. It was found in the morning. The money was used as a dowry so that one of the girls might be able to marry out of their condition of poverty. When Nicholas saw how the money was used and how grateful the family was for that act of generosity, he decided to return. Nicholas repeated the action two more times so the other daughters could also be married. But the last time the father had hidden in wait to discover who the benefactor was that was helping his family. And we heard the bag bang against the floor. He sprung up, ran out and grabbed hold of this anonymous gift giver and spun him around. And Nicholas said, Don't tell anyone because I don't want people to know. The father agreed. Although clearly he did not keep it secret for long because we have come to know this story as well. Okay, let's stop right there. You're probably wondering, wasn't the money thrown down a chimney and landed in a stocking or a shoe? In Nicholas time, houses did not have chimneys. And so the only way that Nicholas could toss the gold into the house was through the window. In this story of the three dowries, the three girls, you can see already just the bare essentials of the Santa Claus story. The idea of a nighttime anonymous gift giver and arriving and delivering gifts maybe through an open window. And in some later versions, Nicholas finds that the window is locked. And so he has to drop the bag of gold down the chimney, where it lands in a stocking that's hanging there by the fire to dry. So you can already see that there are little clues as to where the Santa Claus story comes from and where it will go. I think for that reason, this is one of the stories that has become the most popular St. Nicholas story that we have. Many artists through the centuries have depicted this famous story with Nicholas wearing clerical robes. But the event actually took place before he was a bishop. It's mistakes such as this that have added to the inaccuracies about him. But there's no doubt that later in life, Nicholas did become Bishop of Myra. A bishop at that time was responsible for representing the community in spiritual and civil affairs. But not long after Nicholas became bishop, one of the fiercest decades of persecution began for Christians. Nicomedia was the capital of the Roman province of Bithynia, and we're overlooking the remains of the ancient theater in the city. In 256, the Goths sacked Nicomedia. But just a few years later, in 284, Diocletian was proclaimed emperor just east of Nicomedia. In one of his first acts, he rebuilt the city and called it the new Rome. And from Nicomedia, Diocletian instigated the worst persecution of Christians to date. The capital of Nicomedia had so many important, both imperial and royal buildings. And whatever they had here from the workmanship point of view was an excellent piece of work. In 303, the Emperor Diocletian ordered the destruction of the main cathedral here in Nicomedia and the burning of every copy of scripture. His aim was to rid the empire of what the pagan population believed to be a wretched cult. The historian Lactantius tells us that Diocletian's reign was characterized by excessive cruelty to Christians. When the Emperor Diocletian issued the actual edicts of persecution in the year 303, he issued them from Nicomedia. And that's significant because the persecution was far more intense in the eastern part of the empire in Turkey and Syria and in Egypt than it ever was in any of the western regions of the Roman Empire. Tradition holds that Methodius, Bishop of nearby Olympus, was executed for his faith during the great persecution of 303. And Nicholas was thrown into prison. If a bishop was specifically targeted for persecution, there were various different things that could happen. He might be imprisoned, he might be forced to give up his sea, he might be forced to flee in order to avoid persecution. It is possible that he might be executed, although in most cases that was relatively rare. But one thing that we have to remember is that the people carrying out the edicts did not necessarily have a lot of enthusiasm for the persecution. They may have had serious qualms in their conscience about executing a person because he was a Christian. On June 13, 313, Nicholas' world was turned upside down again. On that very day, in a power play, Licinius, the new emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, issued a letter from his palace in Nicomedia. It was sent to the governor of every Roman province, including Lycia. The letter that Licinius wrote in the year 313 is normally regarded as granting freedom of religion to Christians. It did that, but it actually did more than that, because it gave to every person the right either to exercise the Christian faith or to exercise another religion. By naming Christianity specifically, the letter elevated Christianity from a persecuted status to a favored status within the Roman Empire. The letter of Licinius carried a message that echoed throughout the provinces, religious freedom for all. It decreed the return of church buildings and property that had been confiscated from the Christians. Finally, the followers of Jesus could practice their faith openly, without fear. In one of the greatest ironies of history, a Roman emperor himself now became a Christian. And with Constantine's conversion, the future of Christianity changed. As a result of Constantine's conversion and the beginnings of the flow of Roman money to the Christian church, it was a dramatic transformation of Christian art within the Roman Empire. In the 2nd and the 3rd centuries, Christian art in the Roman Empire had been quite primitive, and it was reflective of a very low class, non-cultured constituency. But beginning in the 4th century, the taste of the Roman aristocracy and the money to produce art and architecture worthy of those tastes began to show up in the Christian churches. We see that in the building of lavish cathedrals. We see it in the very lavish decoration of Christian cathedrals with frescoes, mosaics, and Christian art of a much higher cultural standard than what we've seen previously. Under Constantine, an era of church growth began, and the use of buildings for worship expanded quickly. Now, for the first time, Christian leaders had the luxury and the leisure to study and to write extensively. It's hard to write commentaries and theological treatises when you're running for your life from the authorities. But now that Christianity was protected, it led to a great golden age of Christian literature. And many would argue that the 4th and the 5th centuries were the greatest age of theological literature and scholarship in the entire history of the Christian church. In the midst of it all, bishops became men of influence. Nicholas embraced the opportunity and used his position to combat injustice. One such episode is told in part by Eustratius of Constantinople in AD 583. He tells the story of three innocent citizens of Myra who were condemned to death. The story of the three dowries is certainly the most well-known story today. But the oldest story about Nicholas is actually called the Proxus Destratilatus. It's the story of the military officers. It came into circulation in the early 500s. It's the first story known to the Latin speaking audience. It's the story that appears on many murals and frescoes in churches. But it's a story not well known today at all. The Proxus Destratilatus, which in English means the practice of military officers, was written by an anonymous Greek author around AD 400. The Praxis tells the story of three army officers and their troops who had been sent by the Emperor Constantine to quell a revolt in Phrygia. During their journey, they harbored their ship in Andriachi, the port of Myra. When the officers were visiting Bishop Nicholas, news came that a riot had broken out because of stealing. In the chaos, three innocent civilians were accused and arrested, and the local governor ordered them to be put to death. When Nicholas heard this, he rushed to the scene, accompanied by the three army officers. They arrived just as the executioner was raising his sword. Fearlessly, Nicholas grabbed the sword from the executioner and threw it to the ground. Loosening the men from their chains, he set them free. What happened next gives us an insight into what kind of person Nicholas had become. In a word, courageous. Rushing to the praetorium, Nicholas flung open the door and confronted the governor. Hearing what had happened, the governor tried to placate the holy man. But Nicholas didn't hold back, saying, The governor quickly fell to his knees and begged for forgiveness, insisting that two local officials had instructed him to convict the innocent men. But Nicholas had heard about the plot and knew the governor had been bribed to execute the men, so Nicholas now demanded justice. The visiting army officers pleaded in behalf of their fellow Roman official. Finally, Nicholas granted him pardon, providing that all charges against the innocent men were dropped. Regarding the story of Nicholas's confronting the governor about his sins, it is, of course, certainly possible that there's some rhetorical or legendary exaggeration in the story. But it's interesting that this story is very much in keeping with other evidence that we have about the way the bishops responded to the Roman authorities in their province. We have numerous examples of bishops who did not hesitate to condemn the actions of the government, even though the government was providing them with the money that they needed for their lifestyle. Of course, not all of the bishops were bold enough to do this, but we have enough examples of bishops who did do this that there's nothing inherently incredible about the story we have of Nicholas confronting the provincial governor. Ironically, months later, the same three army officers were falsely accused in a plot against the emperor. However, according to the author of the Praxis Destratilatis, Nicholas appeared in dreams to both the accuser and Constantine, warning them of severe consequences if the officers weren't released. You can imagine that this was received by the Emperor Constantine with either great fury or fear. He had the officers brought before him to explain the phenomenon. After describing what they had witnessed in Myra, the officers told Constantine that they had prayed to Nicholas for help. Hearing this, Constantine ordered the soldiers to return to Myra bearing gifts and to thank Nicholas for their release. According to Dr. Chafari, the detail in which the Praxis Destratilatis is written makes it an invaluable historical document. We cannot write a real life of St. Nicholas because the only episode that I believe is really historical rooted is the Praxis Destratilatis. The Praxis Destratilatis is the oldest fragment that tells us about Nicholas, and it was written about AD 400, and so that is really quite close to Nicholas' time. And it would have been part of a larger life of St. Nicholas, and unfortunately, that life didn't survive, but surely the writers who wrote later probably had access to that life. Today, I'm standing in the Church of the Hagia Sophia in downtown Isnik. In this well-preserved basilica, the Seventh Ecumenical Council took place in 787. As the church began to grow in the fourth century, a theological dispute arose about the divinity of Christ. There was a Presbyterian Alexandrian by the name of Arius who began to teach that Jesus was not an eternal being, and there was a time when Christ was not. The Son was therefore a created being and thus not equal to the Father. To settle this dispute, Constantine summoned all the bishops to his summer palace. When Constantine called the bishops together at the Council of Nicaea in 325, the decision ahead of them was crucial to the future of the Christian Church, because it had to do with the question of whether the church would worship a son who was unequal to the Father or fully equal to the Father, and therefore whether we would worship a trinity of equal persons or an unequal trinity. Through this gate, Nicholas would have entered the city of Nicaea, the modern city of Iznik in Turkey today. There's been much historical debate whether Nicholas actually attended this council. The problem is that on the lists that have 200 attendees, his name is not found on these. However, at least six lists of attendees do include the name of Nicholas. There are lists, but all the lists without his name are no more than 200 names. So historically, we know that there were more than 300. The omission of Nicholas's name from the shorter lists might have occurred because only the names of the bishops who arrived at the start of the council had their names recorded. But one thing is certain, every list that includes the names of at least 300 bishops includes the name of Nicholas, and these lists are drawn from authoritative historical sources. Regarding the story that Nicholas slapped Arius during the debates at the Council of Nicaea, we don't know for sure whether that's true because we don't have any actual minutes from the council. But there's nothing inherently incredible about that. The debate at this council and the debates at other councils were often quite rancorous, and there are some quite reliable historical accounts of people being slapped or even beaten during the course of those debates. So it's not at all implausible that Nicholas might have done this. The Council of Nicaea took place here in 325 AD. Nicholas must have felt privileged to participate in the critical debate about such a fundamental doctrine of Christianity, the deity of Jesus, and he was privileged to sign the creed that is still being recited in the church around the world today. We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, the only begotten, that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made, with the covenant and honor, who for us men and for our salvation came down and was incarnate and was made man. He suffered, and the third day he rose again and ascended into heaven. From thence he shall come to judge the quickened of the dead and in the Holy Ghost. Nicholas would have been in his 60s when he attended the Council of Nicaea. Tradition says that he was one of the oldest of the attendees. As a confessor, he could show the council participants the marks in his body received during the era of persecution. Confessors are people who, when faced with persecution or torture, do not renounce their faith. Nicholas was imprisoned in the time of Diocletian and did not renounce his faith, and so he is regarded as a confessor. Most people who were named saints in the years of the early church, it was because they were martyrs to their faith and had been killed. Nicholas was regarded as a saint because of the quality of his life rather than the way he died, and that makes him an exceptional saint coming out of that era. Not much remains today of Constantine's Palace on Lake Isnik. The water level is much higher than it was in the fourth century. We have just a few stones remaining of the foundation of the palace, but recently archaeologists have found the remains of a church underwater nearby. There are many other stories written about Saint Nicholas. For example, some were documented by Michael the Archimandrite in the 8th century, and many are from the oral tradition. In one story, Nicholas travels 300 miles to appear before the emperor Constantine and requests that the emperor lower taxes for his region, the region of Lycia. He somehow gets the emperor to agree to a ridiculously low tax rate and has the emperor put it in writing. As soon as Nicholas leaves the palace of the emperor, he rolls up this document that has been signed and sealed by the emperor, ties it with a string, and throws it into the sea. Well, the next day, the emperor Constantine realizes that he was a bit too generous, that maybe he overextended his grace, and that he might want that document back. He has Nicholas reappear before him. Nicholas can only say that the document is long gone, that he no longer has it. And indeed, back in Myra, fishermen have dredged up this document signed by the emperor, and when they unfurl it, they realize that it is a letter lowering taxes for the region. Once there was a famine in Myra, and Nicholas was very concerned about that, of course, because the people were starving. And a ship came into port that was loaded with grain on the way to Alexandria, and Nicholas was able to persuade the captain to allow some of the grain to stay. And that was unusual because the captain, of course, had to account for every bit of it when his ship got to Alexandria. But Nicholas told him not to worry that it would be all right, and the captain relented and sold the grain to Nicholas. And it was enough food that the people ate for two years, and there was still grain left over to plant for new crops. Another story recounts that Nicholas destroyed the Temple of Artemis in Myra. Artemis Eleuthera combined the attributes of the Greek virginal goddess of the hunt with those of the Anatolian goddess of fertility, Sibyllae. Certainly, Nicholas would have used his newly found freedom of worship under Constantine to try to stop pagan worship. But whether Nicholas destroyed the Temple of Artemis remains in the realm of legend. Nicholas, who is very widely known, has the patron saint of sailors. In fact, it's almost the primary identification in many places. There are ships today sailing from Russia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, and all of the ships will have an icon of Nicholas in the wheelhouse. And so people sometimes say, well, how did this happen? Why is Nicholas the patron saint of sailors and everything that has to do with water and the sea? There are several stories, but one of them is of a ship that was sailing in the Mediterranean and a large storm came up and the sailors were desperately afraid that they would perish. And so they cried out to Nicholas for help. And Nicholas appeared on the ship and helped the sailors. And once it was stabilized, the vision was vanished. And when the sailors made port, they went to the church to give thanks for their being rescued and spared in the storm. And it so happened they were in port and the church was Bishop Nicholas's own church. And when they went in, they recognized who had helped them. And so that is one of the stories that's a root of why he is so highly regarded by sailors around the world. There can be no doubt that the life and pastoral care of Nicholas had a transforming effect on the local population. His dynamic personality, boldness and deep commitment to Christ made him a legend even in his own day. The fragments of fact that we have pieced together depict a man committed to justice and mercy, a real father of his people. Ancient sources confirm that Nicholas died here in Myra on December 6th. What none seem to agree on is the year when he died. The undeniable fact that a great man of God named Nicholas lived during Constantine's reign is supported by the use of his name after his death. As his fame grew during the fifth century, parents everywhere began to name their children after him. This church built in Myra to commemorate Nicholas dates to the fifth century. The basilica was built in the shape of a cross and housed the tomb of the saint. We have discovered and other archaeologists have discovered many monasteries in the hills around Lycia dating back to the fifth century, which is an indication that the area was very special. And we believe the reason is that St. Nicholas lived there and became famous for curing people of their ailments. Dr. Vera Bulgurlu is one of the archaeologists excavating the church site. Can one of these sarcophagi in the church be associated with St. Nicholas? Definitely. It's in the burial chapel in this outer narthex. And the lid is very interesting because it has holes in it. It has two rows of holes because it means there were so many pilgrims that maybe two at once could pour oil through there. And they believe that once the oil touched the relics and then they collected it on the other side and put it in the pilgrim flasks that this would cure them. There are some stories you will see in the frescoes in his life cycle, in which these miracles are recited. But you must remember, all these paintings are 11th, 12th century. It's very difficult to have proof of these miracles. But you know, mostly people recite these things from family to family. So we believe that, especially as a Greek Orthodox, I mean, I believe that he certainly did perform miracles. This is the main idea of any pilgrimage, to visit the place where which about I read and just to renew in my mind to be more stronger and more true Christian. Today, the church has become a popular site for pilgrims from all over the world, especially for Russians. This statue of Nicholas here in the courtyard was donated by the Russian government in the year 2000. This is a central idea in church to imitate Christ and Apostle Paul writes to Christian imitates me like I imitate Christ. This is the same in my life, also in other priests to imitate some Nicholas as he imitated Christ. Just as Nicholas's life was full of drama, events after his death were equally sensational. For centuries, his remains lay peacefully here in his tomb in Myra, but a mysterious liquid described as myrrh oozed from the marble sarcophagus. Some believe it seeped from the saint's bones. And it's this point that takes us back to Italy. You see, the city of Bari had a problem during the Norman conquest. The city lost its role as the capital of the Byzantine province of southern Italy. At the time, cities that had the relics of saints not only received a spiritual blessing, but also became pilgrimage centers, which led to economic prosperity. Inspired by the Venetians with their Saint Mark and other Italian cities famous for their saints, the citizens of Bari proposed to find the relics of a saint for their city. And who better than Nicholas? It just so happened that Barian merchants frequently passed Myra when they brought goods back from the east. In 1087, Barian merchants moored in the port of Andriache and dispatched 47 men disguised as pilgrims to the Church of St. Nicholas. In one of the most famous smash and grab stories in history, the men broke the tomb open and grabbed Nicholas's bones. Legend has it that to everyone's surprise, the relics were virtually floating in the liquid myrrh. His remains were rushed to the ship and the vessel set sail before the monks could sound the alarm. On May 9th, 1087, the ship carrying Nicholas's bones sailed into the harbor here in Bari. So Bari got its relics and its prestige still continues today. In fact, Bari is often referred to as the city of St. Nicholas, and Nicholas is sometimes called Nicholas of Bari. Today, the Basilica of St. Nicholas in Bari safeguards the saint's relics. Four reinforced concrete blocks ensure that no one is ever going to steal these bones again. A small hole in the upper front panel of the sarcophagus is unsealed on the evening of May 9th every year in order to extract the myrrh. It's diluted with water and made available to pilgrims. Over the centuries, the fame of this beloved saint has grown across the globe. But is there anything else we can learn about the real St. Nicholas? It just so happens we have a good idea of what he looked like. In the 1950s, while work was being done on the crypt, the Vatican allowed measurements and x-rays to be taken of Nicholas's skull and other bones. Then, in 2004, a facial anthropologist was engaged to construct a model of the saint's head. Dr. Carolyn Wilkinson is known worldwide for her forensic facial reconstructions. This project was a bit of a challenge for me because it involved producing a 3D model from effectively two-dimensional data, so in terms of images and craniometrics, but also because it involved a significant historical figure. It became a really interesting project, both to have the challenge of creating the 3D model of the skull and then for us to be able to depict what St. Nicholas looked like. This facial reconstruction helps us know what the real Greek Santa Claus actually looked like. But today we have an even better representation. In 2014, using the latest 3D interactive technology, Dr. Wilkinson updated the facial reconstruction. I think textured in a different way, what we've got now with our second depiction is basically the same face with some modern changes, but with a completely different texture system that's based on what we know about those people in that status from that period of time from that part of the world. So the end result should be more reliable and less based on this Santa Claus image. The result is a man in his 60s with a long beard, round head and square jaw. St. Nicholas also had a severely broken nose that healed asymmetrically. It may be that this happened during his time of persecution. You're looking at a facial facsimile of the real St. Nicholas. So there's damage to his nasal bones between the eyes, which is consistent with more than one breakage and then that healing. So it's been pushed in one direction and has reformed and healed slightly wonky. That would be consistent with a blow to the nose. How that happened, I don't know, that would be speculation. It would be consistent with a blow to the nose through somebody's fist, could be walking into a post, it could be falling off a horse, there may be a number of ways that how that happened. I think it's always really important with famous historical figures to to get a sense of what they were really like as a person. And when someone is as important as St. Nicholas in terms of how he's been depicted throughout the years, having something that's based on science rather than on religion or on propaganda is quite interesting, I think. So we get a sense of what his face was like. There's some speculation in relation to his facial hair, et cetera. But what we're getting is a sense of the real person rather than the stories that are associated with St. Nicholas. Nicholas is often referred to as the patron saint of everything, and it is almost true. His primary patronages are children, of course, sailors and innocents. But he is the patron saint of so many more things. And part of it is because so many of the stories have different elements. And so anything that relates to any of those different characteristics, he became the patron. So, for example, in Iran, in Tehran, there is a church in Tokyo, a great cathedral, because the Russians, wherever went, 70% are St. Nicholas Church. So we have everywhere in the world St. Nicholas Church. In the United States are about 500, 600 Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants. This, I want to say, is ecumenicity. Nicholas was a man of deep faith. We should never forget that first and foremost, he was a Christian pastor, a bishop committed to the gospel. This should be a monumental fact for Christian families who are looking for a way to connect to the Christmas season. We don't simply have to reject consumerism and Santa Claus and everything that goes with this. We have an opportunity to reclaim a part of our own faith when we reclaim the Nicholas story and legacy inherited in our own family traditions. As children everywhere eagerly await the coming of that mythical man on Christmas Eve, the real St. Nicholas has left us a legacy to treasure far more than just colorfully wrapped presents. St. Nicholas has become associated with Christmas, and that's actually a good thing, because St. Nicholas helps to bring a focus to Jesus, who, of course, is the center of Christmas. St. Nicholas does this by pointing beyond himself and to encouraging people to understand that it really is more about giving than about getting. It's more about compassion than consumption. It's more about need than greed. St. Nicholas helps people to focus on what is really the center of Christmas, because everything St. Nicholas did grew out of his faith. The legacy of Nicholas is his generosity. We have to keep going back to the story of the three dowries. Nicholas had no reason to get involved. He didn't know these people. He didn't owe them anything. And yet he decided to act. That should inspire us to get outside of our comfort zone in our familiarity to find those people in our community who really need help. And especially during the Christmas season, it's an appropriate time to look for those opportunities. Nicholas is often viewed as a jolly, sentimental figure, but history tells us otherwise. It was a bold, decisive man of faith who confronted the issues of his day. If he were alive now, he would be concerned with today's issues. Hunger, human incarceration, trafficking, slavery, the abolition of the death penalty, even tax abuse. Now, that's something to tell your children.