Patron Saint of Sailors

Why St. Nicholas of Myra?

Long before he became Santa Claus, Nicholas was a bishop in Myra, on the coast of what is now Turkey, and the sea was the world his city lived by. The patronage rests on an account of sailors caught in a storm who called on him and reported that he appeared aboard, took hold of the ropes, and brought the ship through. Whether or not you take the account literally, the effect is documented: harbour churches dedicated to Nicholas appear all along the Mediterranean and then far beyond it, and sailors carried the devotion with them wherever they traded. That is how a bishop from a coastal town in Asia Minor ended up as one of the most widely venerated saints in both East and West, centuries before any connection to gift-giving. The familiar figure came later and by an odd route: his reputation for secret generosity, particularly a story about providing dowries for three impoverished sisters by night, travelled through the Dutch Sinterklaas into the modern Santa Claus. The sailor came first. St. Brendan the Navigator is invoked by voyagers particularly, and St. Elmo is associated with sailors through the electrical discharge at masthead that still carries his name.

Who was St. Nicholas of Myra?

Nicholas was bishop of Myra, in what is now Turkey, in the fourth century, and he is one of the most widely venerated saints in both East and West despite the historical record being thin. He is thought to have suffered imprisonment under Diocletian and to have been present at the Council of Nicaea.

The stories that survive are about rescue. The best known has him throwing bags of gold through the window of a poor man's house at night, three times, so that his three daughters would not be sold: the origin of both the secret gift-giving and, by a long route, of Santa Claus.

The sea stories are why sailors claim him. In one, he calms a storm on a voyage to the Holy Land; in another, he appears aboard a foundering ship and takes the ropes himself. Ports across the Mediterranean and the Baltic are dedicated to him, and for centuries a ship leaving harbour would be blessed in his name.

The feast: December 6

December 6. It is a major feast in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and much of central Europe, kept with gifts on the eve, and in Greek and Russian tradition he is among the most honoured of all saints. In port towns the day is often marked with a blessing of the fleet. Our Lady, Star of the Sea, is invoked alongside him by sailors of most nations.

How to ask their intercession

Ask before setting out, as with any journey. Fishing communities in many countries still keep a blessing of the fleet, and his feast on December 6 remains a working sailors’ day in ports that have kept the custom.