The strange truth about that mountain of a man named Nicholas is that no one knows how much of what is known is true. Little remains in the scrolls of antiquity concerning this fourth century bishop, but his legends loom large—larger than his life. For one with such scant history, it is wondrous how his stories abound, like so many merry mysteries. St. Nicholas is one of those special saints whose actual deeds are overshadowed by the tall tales those deeds inspired; whose zeal and piety are remembered only in the language of miracles and wonders—miracles and wonders that may or may not be true but are reflective of truth.

The fact is, what is most important about St. Nicholas is not the date he was supposedly born in a coastal town of Asia Minor, present-day Turkey; it is not how he apparently lost his parents at an early age only to bestow his inheritance on the poor; it is not how he allegedly suffered under the Diocletian persecution and released under the rule of Constantine the Great; it is not the theory of his ordination; it is not the records that suggest when he, even as a young man, became Bishop of Myra. What is most important about St. Nicholas are not the facts of his existence at all, but rather the fact that he existed at all; an existence that was real enough to become the stuff that dreams are made on—or the stuff that faith is made on.

No one can deny the impact of the fact of St. Nicholas. For all his heresy, Arius could attest truly to the bare fact of Nicholas—especially Nicholas’ bare fist when it struck him like a thunderbolt at the Council of Nicaea and sent him sprawling at the feet of the Fathers. Nicholas was man enough to become a myth, and solid enough to float and blast through the ages like a hurricane. We will never know much about Nicholas, but we do know of his existence, and that is enough for us to believe that he exists to this day.

Whether factual or false, Nicholas tossing bags of gold in at poor men’s windows to save their daughters from shame is an indispensable and immortal treasure of holy lore. St. Nicholas’ generosity was so great it has given throughout the centuries: gifts of pious yarns of impossible charity of saving innocent men from the executioner’s sword, of resurrecting pickled boys from murderous innkeepers’ brine barrels, and of saving sailors on stormy seas, gifts of indefatigable mirth and might, of secret presences that breathe the benevolence of God down the chimney.

It is to this saint whose charity was a wonder and a delight that we look to in our own endeavors to be charitable and to give the gifts of wonder and delight—especially that wonder and delight that can only be found in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. St. Nicholas, pray for us.