Once upon time, in a place called Lycia or present-day Turkey, a pious couple lived in the very town that St. Paul had visited himself. 

It was the first half of the 3rd century, and a vibrant Christian community flourished despite persecution from the Roman Empire.

The pious couple prayed for a child for more than 30 years. But finally, in the year 270 A.D., after many tears of sorrow, tears of joy followed. 

A baby boy was born to Theophanes and Nonna. They wondered what to name him. The considered many common christian names. The child’s uncle, however, was a certain Abbot Nicholas of a nearby monastery. The uncle came to bless the newborn. And thus, the happy parents decided to name their son, Nicholas. 

Theophanes and Nonna were of the middle class. They had just enough money to meet their needs and to give generously to the poor. It was in this charitable home that young Nicholas learned about the second greatest commandment, loving others as you love yourself. 

Nicholas had a happy childhood. He routinely visited his uncle at the monastery and joined the holy monks for prayer. He studied philosophy and Scripture and theology. I can easily imagine him speaking to the scholars of the monastery like Christ spoke to the scribes in the temple, yet with mere mortal understand of holy writ. Furthermore, his parents’ wealth increased substantially during his childhood, yet they never lost their sense of duty to those less fortunate. 

It was during Nicholas’ teenage years that a plague swept through Lycia. Both Theophanes and Nonna were killed. 

Nicholas inherited everything of his parents at a rather young age.

Shortly thereafter, a certain man in town, who was the father of three maidens, became very ill. It was during this illness that he lost his own fortune. And his three daughters, all of whom were of marrying age, lost all prospects of suitors. 

You see, back in this time, a maiden must bring a dowry, or financial gift, to the marriage in order to be considered a good catch. These three young ladies ran the risk of never marrying, or worse, being sold into slavery upon the death of their father. Their sad story spread throughout the town. 

One night, while the family slept their problems away, a small bag of gold was cast through the window. Some accounts say that the bag landed in a shoe drying by the fireplace. Other accounts say that the bag landed in a large stocking hanging by the mantel, drying by the heat of the fire. 

Upon waking, the father rejoiced, and offered the bag of gold as a dowry for the eldest daughter. 

Not long after, a second bag of gold was likewise tossed into the home. Some versions of the story say that the gold was tossed down the chimney. 

In any event, the father was overwhelmed, for his second daughter was saved. But this time, the father decided he must know who this savior was. He decided to stay up, night after night, to catch the saint in his generosity. 

And not long after, a figure made his way to the house with a small bag in his hand. The father jumped from around the corner and grabbed the welcome intruder, only to find it was the young Nicholas who had lost his parents to the plague. 

In his humility, Nicholas was embarrassed and begged the old man not to reveal his identity to anyone. He said, “You must thank God alone for providing these gifts in answer to your prayers for deliverance.” 

There are many stories about the young Nicholas, including a story about how he rose a man from the dead during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. But time is fleeting, and I must skip ahead to his adult hood.

So . . . Nicholas grew in grace and wisdom. His reputation of generosity grew with him as-well. Eventually he was appointed a Bishop and used his influence to care for the poor.  

Happy times, however, seem to never last too long on this mortal coil. And a great persecution of Christians began by the villainous Emperor Diocletian. In fact, it is called The Great Persecution because it was the last and most severe of the early Christian persecutions. Diocletian makes the leaders of the Democratic Party look like a bunch of Girl Scouts.

Right around 300 A.D., Diocletian imprisoned, tortured, and martyred countless Christians. He demanded that Christians worship pagan gods. He required priests, such as Nicholas, to make sacrifices to pagan gods, such as the goddess Artemis, the twin sister of Apollo.  

While the record is not clear, Nicholas stood against these pagan rituals, which he believed were down-right diabolical. He was imprisoned for a lengthy sentence, presumably for a life-sentence. He was only released once Constantine came into power and ceased all persecution of Christians.  

Nicholas returned home. He found that many people in Lycia were still worshipping the ancient pagan gods, especially Artemis, who was the favorite ancient goddess of his town. Many shrines to Artemis survived. You see, Nicholas believed that Artemis was actually a demon, not just some mythological twin sister of Apollo. And thus, he committed himself to physically destroying every shrine to the demon Artemis. He was not content with the walls crumpling down. No. He required that the very foundation be removed.

You can see now, Saint Nicholas was not just the gentle man who tossed gold coins into people’s homes. He was also a strong defender of Jesus Christ. 

And in the early 300s, an even greater threat to Christianity arose – one far more deceptive and destructive than the teeth of lions or the nails of crucifixion. In fact, physical persecution mostly has the opposite effect on Christians. Our numbers rise when we are killed, for the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.

Heresy, however, is the true threat to the Church. And the heresy of the early 300s was one called Arianism. Named for its ring-leader, Arius, this heresy taught that Jesus was not truly divine. He was more of a super-human, filled with grace. For some reason, this heresy took hold of countess Christians.

And in the year 325 AD, Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea to address the issue. More than 300 bishops attended, include Arius the heretic, and Bishop Nicholas. Being the issue of the day, the 300 bishops patiently listened to Arius’ argument that Jesus Christ was not God, but merely superhuman. In fact, the majority of the bishops had sided with Arius and were on the verge of proclaiming that Jesus Christ was not God. 

Nicholas bit his tongue. As he listened, he grew more and more frustrated about the defilement of Christ’s name. The very man who threw money into people’s homes, the very man who tore down the temples of pagan gods, could stand it no more. He stood up from his seat, walked across the great gathering hall, straight up to Arius, and punched him right in the face. 

But there is often a worldly price to pay for such aggression. 

Constantine could not let such actions stand. It was illegal to strike someone in front of the emperor. Constantine allowed the bishops to cast punishment on their own. And thus, the bishops threw Nicholas into prison (a second imprisonment in his life) and stripped him of his bishop’s garments. They even chained him to the floor for added measure. Arius and his followers hoped that the chains would keep him out of the council. 

During the night, Jesus and Mary appeared to Nicholas and asked him, “Why are in you jail?” And he answered, “For my love for you.” Jesus then miraculous gave him a Book of the Gospels and Mary gave him his bishop’s stole – which was a sign of his position as bishop. Nicholas was comforted by the Gospels throughout the night. And when the jailer returned in the morning, he was astounded to see the chains broken, a bible in hand, and Nicholas dressed in the stole of a bishop. 

The jailer quickly told Constantine about the miracles. Nicholas was immediately released and returned to his position as bishop. 

We can only imagine that the news of this miraculous event spread like wildfire throughout the council of these 300 spineless bishops. But they were moved, whether by Nicholas’ courage, the grace of God, or both. Needless to say, the Council of Nicaea ruled against Arius and loudly proclaimed that the official teaching of the Church was none other than that Jesus Christ is truly human and truly divine, which is the only real reason Christmas has any meaning to us at all.  

Nicholas continued to defend truth and to care for the poor. He died a holy death in 343 A.D., reportedly seeing the angel of God coming to receive his soul. His last words were, “I have hope in thee, O Lord. Into thine hands I commend my spirit.” 

This, my friends, is the real Santa Clause. I do not have time to explain how Saint NiClause became Santa Clause over the centuries.

But it begins with a real man, whose parents really prayed fervently for a child, and who really did die from a plague. Nicholas was a real boy who shared his wealth with those in need. And he was a real Bishop who fought real demons and was imprisoned by really evil roman emperors. And he was a real attendee at the most important council the Church ever held, and he punched a real heretic in the face, because he really deserved it. 

Santa Clause is real.

In fact, to just double down on my point, what if I told you that you could see, right now, the real Santa Clause?

Well, the truth is that Saint Nicholas has been resting peacefully in the Basilica of St. Nicola for centuries. But we have every single one of his bones. A while back, his body was exhumed. Exact measurements and photographs of his remains were taken by the world’s most elite forensic examiners.

You see, there is a Face Lab at the University of Manchester, England, where facial anthropologist reconstruct faces from remains, usually for the purpose of identifying murder victims. And in 2014, the Face Lab at the university decided to show the world the real Santa Clause.

Here he is.

I will leave this up here so you can say hello and tell him what you want for Christmas.

Dear Good Will family, Santa Clause is a real man, right now, in heaven with Our Lord.

He prays for you.

At Good Will, we may not physically tear down temples of pagan worship, and we may not punch heretics in the face, but we do, as the young Nicholas did, cast little treasures into the homes of hundreds of thousands of families around the nation. In the corporate world, we call this “distribution.”

On behalf of all the recipients of our products, I thank you for your generosity, for working for a company still fighting the good fight, standing up to the evil world in which we live, not totally unlike Saint Nicholas did himself. 

And I ask Saint Nicholas’ intercession for each of you during this Christmas season, that you will have the same love of Our Lord, and that you will have the same fortitude in the face of adversity. 

May God bless you and your family during Christmas. And may the true spirit of Saint Nicholas fill your hearts in the days to come. 

Thank you.