Does Sant Claus exist?

Yes, Santa Claus does exist, or should i say 'did' exist. Back in the 4th Century, a Bishop known as 'Nicholas of Myra' was a devout Christian who was made famous in his time for his generosity in a small town called Demre in Turkey by secretly giving presents to children in the poorer areas, folk law has it that he also gave coal to the bad children...!

Later depicted as 'Saint Nicholas', his tomb became a pilgrimage and was visited by thousands of worshippers. More interestingly though, his tomb was moved from town to town, as it was perceived to be commercially viable for each town because of the thousands of pilgrims who flocked to visit.

When Myra became ruled by the Seljuk's who controlled most parts of Asia at the time, it was apparent that they were not sympathetic to the Christian faith. Visiting Italian Sailors and merchants who feared that pilgrimage would become dangerous or that the tomb may become desecrated took it on themselves to take the tomb to Italy where they too could benefit from the commercial advantages of 'Nicholas of Myra's ' tomb and save the sacred remains.

The port of Bari was the final resting place for Bishop Nicholas of Myra as the returning merchants promised to build a church, which is now known as the Crypt. A beautiful example of Romanesque architecture. This final resting place for Nicholas became a magnet for thousands of pilgrimages, and so the people depicted Nicholas of Myra to be 'Saint Nicholas' and was also referred to as Saint Nicholas of Bari.

See my next blog to follow the history of how we ended up reffering to 'St Nicholas' as Santa Claus and how western civilisation has turned Santa Claus into a commercialy viable 'Holiday' and people such as myself now keep the Original 'St Nicholas' memory alive by producing Santa Letters via our website.