Saint Nicholas

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Referring to the St. Nicholas that we know modern day as Santa Claus.

Is he an Eastern (Byzantine, I suppose) Catholic Saint as opposed to Roman Catholic? He was Bishop of Myrna, Turkey and is known as the “Defender of Orthodoxy”. He was also never formally canonized like the Roman Church does but instead merely considered after many years to be a Saint, which from what I understand is the Byzantine process.

I ask this because Saint Nicholas is my Confirmation Patron and I’m Roman Catholic. Are Roman Catholics allowed to take Eastern Saints as Patrons? Because if not my Church didn’t catch it.

If he’s an Eastern Saint I wouldn’t really care, I’m just curious. I love Saint Nicholas.
 
I know. I just found nothing very clear on whether or not the Roman Catholic Church viewed him as a Saint. It’s very obvious the Eastern Catholics view him that way!
 
St. Nicholas is a pre-Schism Saint of (so far as I know) all the Apostolic Churches (Eastern, Oriental, Assyrian, Catholic, ect). Although he was a Bishop in what is today “the East”, at the time there was no such jurisdictional distinction. For some perspective, St. Augustine was not from “the West” as we think of it today, either. He was from a now-lost North African Church tradition, though he wrote in Latin. We actually know little about the peculiar traditions of his area (they may have been much like the Coptic, might have been quite different), but we do know from his writings that it was different from the Roman.

The modern Roman process of “formal canonization” is a much later development; for most of Church history Sainthood has been by popular acclaimation. So far as I know none of the Saints from the first several centuries (possibly even the first millenium) were “formally canonized” as we think of the Roman process today. St. Nicholas’ feast day, on the Roman Calendar, is December 6th, so he’s clearly just as much a “Roman” Saint as a Byzantine one (there was literally no such distinction in his day, incidentally).

As for the general question of having a non-Roman Saint as a patron, I don’t know any rules forbidding it. A Catholic Saint is a Catholic Saint, regardless of which calendars they have Feasts in.

Peace and God bless!
 
Ghosty said:
St. Nicholas is a pre-Schism Saint of (so far as I know) all the Apostolic Churches (Eastern, Oriental, Assyrian, Catholic, ect). Although he was a Bishop in what is today “the East”, at the time there was no such jurisdictional distinction. For some perspective, St. Augustine was not from “the West” as we think of it today, either. He was from a now-lost North African Church tradition, though he wrote in Latin. We actually know little about the peculiar traditions of his area (they may have been much like the Coptic, might have been quite different), but we do know from his writings that it was different from the Roman.

The modern Roman process of “formal canonization” is a much later development; for most of Church history Sainthood has been by popular acclaimation. So far as I know none of the Saints from the first several centuries (possibly even the first millenium) were “formally canonized” as we think of the Roman process today. St. Nicholas’ feast day, on the Roman Calendar, is December 6th, so he’s clearly just as much a “Roman” Saint as a Byzantine one (there was literally no such distinction in his day, incidentally).

As for the general question of having a non-Roman Saint as a patron, I don’t know any rules forbidding it. A Catholic Saint is a Catholic Saint, regardless of which calendars they have Feasts in.

Peace and God bless!
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Good answer; thanks!

I feel as though I have a connection with the Eastern Church now, considering St. Nicholas’s very Eastern background.

I always knew this but it just occurred to me now. Cool. I like the Eastern Churches. :cool:
 
Very interesting since the bones of Saint Nicholas are definitely considered Sacred relics.

But I’m not sure if being a Saint in one Church effectively means being a Saint in all of them. Constantine is a Saint in the Byzantine Church but not the Roman Church.
 
I was in between him and Saint Michael. Everybody in my CCD was choosing Saint Michael though, so I wanted somebody different.

I was the only one who took Saint Nicholas. 👍
 
Oh well. I was confirmed 43 years ago. :eek: My confirmation name is Lucy, hence my username.
God bless.
 
The bones of St. Nicholas were stolen from Myra, in what is today Turkey, in 1057. They were stolen by Italian sailors who had of the many miracles attributed to St. Nicholas and they took his remains to the Italian city of Bari they remain to this day…

stnicholascenter.org/stnic/images/bari-4-sm.jpg

This is the tomb of St. Nicholas in the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Bari.
 
Marc_Anthony said:
Referring to the St. Nicholas that we know modern day as Santa Claus.

Is he an Eastern (Byzantine, I suppose) Catholic Saint as opposed to Roman Catholic? He was Bishop of Myrna, Turkey and is known as the “Defender of Orthodoxy”. He was also never formally canonized like the Roman Church does but instead merely considered after many years to be a Saint, which from what I understand is the Byzantine process.

I ask this because Saint Nicholas is my Confirmation Patron and I’m Roman Catholic. Are Roman Catholics allowed to take Eastern Saints as Patrons? Because if not my Church didn’t catch it.

If he’s an Eastern Saint I wouldn’t really care, I’m just curious. I love Saint Nicholas.
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While he’s eastern, and was not “formally canonized”, he’s in the canon of saints in the full commemoration used in the long version of the litany of saints.

See newadvent.org/cathen/09291a.htm
 
Marc_Anthony said:
Referring to the St. Nicholas that we know modern day as Santa Claus.

Is he an Eastern (Byzantine, I suppose) Catholic Saint as opposed to Roman Catholic? He was Bishop of Myrna, Turkey and is known as the “Defender of Orthodoxy”. He was also never formally canonized like the Roman Church does but instead merely considered after many years to be a Saint, which from what I understand is the Byzantine process.

I ask this because Saint Nicholas is my Confirmation Patron and I’m Roman Catholic. Are Roman Catholics allowed to take Eastern Saints as Patrons? Because if not my Church didn’t catch it.

If he’s an Eastern Saint I wouldn’t really care, I’m just curious. I love Saint Nicholas.
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St. Nikola of Myra is considered to be the 2nd greatest Saint behind the Theotokos, as she is number one. St. Nikola had a bad temper and spent one night in prison for openning a can of whoop-***** on Arius at one of the councils.
 
Marc_Anthony said:
Referring to the St. Nicholas that we know modern day as Santa Claus.

Is he an Eastern (Byzantine, I suppose) Catholic Saint as opposed to Roman Catholic? He was Bishop of Myrna, Turkey and is known as the “Defender of Orthodoxy”. He was also never formally canonized like the Roman Church does but instead merely considered after many years to be a Saint, which from what I understand is the Byzantine process.

I ask this because Saint Nicholas is my Confirmation Patron and I’m Roman Catholic. Are Roman Catholics allowed to take Eastern Saints as Patrons? Because if not my Church didn’t catch it.

If he’s an Eastern Saint I wouldn’t really care, I’m just curious. I love Saint Nicholas.
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St. Nicholas long has been venerated in the West.

Anonymous 4 has put together a great album that includes many hymns in English and Latin on St. Nicholas: amazon.com/Legends-St-Nicholas-Medieval-Polyphony/dp/B00001NTHV/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

The CD album comes with a booklet that contains the text for the hymns. Highly recommended.
 
He’s listed as a Saint in the “Saints for Dummies” book (which is actually a really nice reference guide).

As for where he’s buried, since the Irish founded all of civilization, I’m sure some of his bones are there…😃
 
DrSharkey said:
He’s listed as a Saint in the “Saints for Dummies” book (which is actually a really nice reference guide).

As for where he’s buried, since the Irish founded all of civilization, I’m sure some of his bones are there…😃
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Are you THE Dr. David Starkey the historian? If you are, I love your books and TV documentaries and am really glad you enjoy “Dummies” books. If you are not that Dr. David Starkey, I’m glad you like “Dummies” books. I have loads. Catholicism for Dummies is really good.

I just found a picture of St Nicholas of Myra’s Church in Ozleworth, Gloucestershire (UK). It looks really old and was probably stolen from us Catholics during the reformation. Check it out. wishful-thinking.org.uk/genuki/GLS/Ozleworth/StNicholas.html
 
Sorry. I’m not famous in any way. Not a historian. And, yes, “Catholicism for Dummies” is great, as well!
 
st. Nicholas of Myra lived at a time when Christ’s Church was still united. though technically living in the east, speaking in Greek, living in modern-day Turkey, etc.; he was/is still part of the Universal (Greek: Katholikos) Church. He was/is* a great saint, and a very good man to have as a role model.

*(ugh, I love, and am annoyed by the doctrine of the communion of saints, being that all Christians from the past are still ‘alive’ in either Purgatory or Paradise, so we have to keep saying ‘was/is’)

Best Wishes,
Debtor to Jesus Christ,
-Anthony Fisher
 
I repeat what others have already said, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with venerating an eastern saint if you’re western, or a western saint if you’re eastern, etc., we are all one in Christ. When I was chrismated into the Orthodox Church, I kept my given name of Donald, who was an obscure Scottish saint from the Middle Ages. Generally speaking, both the Catholic and Orthodox churches will celebrate saints of both east and west that lived before the schism, which is usually dated at 1054. I personally have no problems venerating saints that have lived afterward, but they won’t be officially recognized in the churches.
 
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