THE BOY ST. NICHOLAS AND ST. NICHOLAS THE PATRON SAINT OF SCHOOLBOYS
The legendary story of St. Nicholas has certain features that
distinguish it from the legendary stories of other saints. The story of
St. Nicholas is not a narrative of a single dramatic achievement, like
that in the life of St. George, nor of a glorious martyrdom, like that
of a St. Sebastian or a St. Cecilia. Nor is the name of St. Nicholas
associated with the diffusion of the Christian faith like that of St.
Augustine, St. Boniface, or St. Patrick, nor with the exposition of
Christian doctrine, like that of St. Jerome or St. Bernard. More like,
it is yet different from, that story of perfect exemplification of
the Christian life, the life story of St. Francis. The story of St.
Nicholas consists almost entirely of a series of beneficent deeds, of
aid afforded humanity in distress, accomplished either by St. Nicholas
during his lifetime or through his intervention after death. As a
benefactor he ranks almost with Divinity in his aid rendered, and even
lacks the severity of the justice that attends Divine awards.
The conception of St. Nicholas, then, is almost that of beneficence
incarnate. The minor traits of his personality, however, the nature of
his parentage, the time details in his life history, the exact manner
of his death, are left in comparative obscurity. The very vagueness of
the information concerning him serves in great measure to explain the
remarkable variety of the rôles he has assumed in the world’s history.
Only the nebulous ideas that have prevailed concerning him have made
it possible that in Scandinavia his name should be connected with that
of a hostile water demon, known in English as the “Old Nick,” while
in certain parts of Siberia he receives divine honor and is worshiped
as the “Russian god Nicolo.” A similar reason explains how he comes
to be regarded as patron saint of classes of people as dissimilar
as schoolboys, parish clerks, unwedded maids, seamen, pirates, and
thieves, how it is possible to associate him with the whimsical
children’s friend Santa Claus.
[Illustration: Beato Angelico. Three Scenes from the Early Life of St.
Nicholas.
Anderson]
The story of the boyhood of St. Nicholas, reverent in tone and not
a little tinged with the supernatural, is of the kind that one
might well look for in the legendary account of one whose memory is
entirely associated with kindness and generosity. St. Nicholas was
born, the Golden Legend[35] tells us, ‘in the city of Patras in Asia
Minor, of rich and holy kin. His father was Epiphanes, and his mother
Johane. He was begotten in the first flower of their age, and from
that time forthon they lived in continence and led an heavenly life.’
From the first the boy Nicholas manifested signs of extreme piety,
observing fasting periods even in earliest infancy. The story runs:
“Then, the first day that he was washed and bained, he addressed
himself right up in the bason, and he would not take the breast nor
the pap but once on Wednesday and once on Friday, and in his young
age he eschewed the plays and japes of other young children. He used
and haunted gladly holy church; and all that he might understand of
holy scripture, he executed it in deed and work after his power.” Thus
he is represented in the narrative of the Golden Legend. Thus too he
is represented in the series of scenes painted by Beato Angelico and
preserved in the Vatican gallery. In these interesting paintings there
is a scene representing the infant Nicholas at the time of his birth
standing up in the basin, and a second scene where he is represented
in a flower-covered ground in front of a church, devoutly standing in
front of a group of worshipers listening to the words of a bishop who
preaches from above in an outside pulpit. Chaucer’s Prioress, speaking
of the saintly boy murdered by the Jews, remarks:
“But ay, when I remembre on this matere,
Seint Nicholas stant ever in my presence,
For he so yong to Christ did reverence.”
It is not hard to see why he should have been chosen as patron saint
of children, unless, indeed, the story of his pious childhood itself
originates from the fact that he was the patron saint of children. In
the words of the English _Liber Festivalis_, “his parents called him
Nycolas, that is a mannes name, but he kepeth the name of a child, for
he chose to kepe vertue, meknes, and simplenes, and without malice....
And therefore, children don him worship before all other saints.”
But it is to be feared that the exemplary boyhood of St. Nicholas
would hardly in itself have sufficed to give him so firm a hold on the
affections of children. Children of our day, or shall we say of the day
that has just passed, in the stories provided them, not infrequently
read of boys almost equally exemplary, without being unduly moved to
love, reverence, or emulation. A more sure road to the affections of
children is through benefits received or at least stories of benefits
rendered. Children love and honor St. Nicholas because they conceive of
the spirit of St. Nicholas as a guardian angel, not only looking after
their safety and well-being, but bringing them substantial rewards, and
many of the stories told of him, led children to feel toward him the
warmest gratitude and at the same time to look to him as a semi-divine
protector in time of trouble.
St. Nicholas was particularly the patron saint of schoolboys, and one
of the best known of the stories of protection afforded by him is thus
told in the Golden Legend:[36]
A man, for the love of his son, that went to school for to learn,
hallowed, every year, the feast of S. Nicholas much solemnly. On
a time it happed that the father had to make ready the dinner,
and called many clerks [schoolboys] to this dinner. And the devil
came to the gate in the habit of a pilgrim for to demand alms;
and the father anon commanded his son that he should give alms
to the pilgrim. He followed him as he went for to give him alms,
and when he came to the quarfox the devil caught the child and
strangled him. And when the father heard this he sorrowed much
strongly and wept, and bare the body into his chamber, and began
to cry for sorrow, and say: Bright sweet son, how is it with thee?
S. Nicholas, is this the guerdon that ye have done to me because
I have so long served you? And as he said these words, and other
semblable, the child opened his eyes, and awoke like as he had been
asleep, and arose up before all, and was raised from death to life.
The clerks assembled at the dinner in honor of St. Nicholas, the devil
in pilgrim guise seeking alms at the door, and later strangling the
boy who has followed him outside, and the boy on the bed being brought
to life through influence of his protector saint, all with entire
disregard to unity of time, are represented in one of the animated
scenes of the painting by Lorenzetti in Florence, in which in quaintly
primitive fashion is anticipated the method of the modern motion
picture.
[Illustration: A. Lorenzetti. The Young Clerk Strangled by the Devil at
the Feast on St. Nicholas’ Eve and Brought to Life by the Saint.
Alinari]
Another story with St. Nicholas in his favorite rôle is thus told in
the Golden Legend:
There was another rich man that by the merits of S. Nicholas had
a son and called him: _Deus dedit_, “God gave.” And this rich man
did do make a chapel of S. Nicholas in his dwelling place; and did
do hallow every year the feast of S. Nicholas. And this manor was
set by the land of the Agarians. This child was taken prisoner,
and deputed to serve the king. The year following, and the day that
the father held devoutly the feast of S. Nicholas, the child held a
precious cup tofore the king, and remembered his prise, the sorrow
of his friends, and the joy that was made that day in the house of
his father, and began to sigh sore high. And the king demanded him
what ailed him and the cause of his sighing; and he told him every
word wholly. And when the king knew it, he said to him; Whatsomever
thy Nicholas do or do not, thou shalt abide here with us. And
suddenly there blew a much strong wind, that made all the house
to tremble, and the child was ravished with the cup, and was set
tofore the gate where his father held the solemnity of S. Nicholas,
in such wise that they all demeaned great joy.
A variant version of this story is included in the Golden Legend. It
runs as follows:
And some say that this child was of Normandy, and went oversea, and
was taken by the sowdan, which made him oft to be beaten before
him. And as he was beaten on a S. Nicholas day, and was set in
prison, he prayed to S. Nicholas as well for the beating that he
suffered, as for the great joy that he was wont to have on that day
of S. Nicholas. And when he had long prayed and sighed, he fell
asleep, and when he awoke he found himself in the chapel of his
father, whereas much joy was made for him.
Wace, the twelfth-century author of a life of St. Nicholas in French
verse, supplies the introductory part of this story only briefly
alluded to in the Golden Legend version. He tells of the rich merchant
of Alexandria named Getro, and his wife, Eufrosine, who have longed in
vain for children. Getro hears of St. Nicholas and goes to the city
where St. Nicholas lives, to seek his aid. But he finds the saint
dead and on his bier. He asks for some of the saint’s clothes. These
he bears as holy relics to Alexandria and erects a church for them.
The next December, on St. Nicholas’ day, a son is born and receives
the name Deudoné. This son is carried off by robbers and sold to the
emperor, whom he serves as cup-bearer. On St. Nicholas’ day the boy
weeps but is cruelly beaten for it. At the same time his father in
Alexandria is praying to St. Nicholas, and on rising from prayer, finds
his son, safely restored, standing before him. After that, naturally,
there is no neglect to worship St. Nicholas on his festival day.
This story seems to be closely connected with the development of St.
Nicholas worship in western Europe following the removal of his relics
to Bari, Italy. General veneration of the saint, long popular in the
East, seems to increase in the West after that event. The particular
incident just recorded is followed in Wace by these words:
Devant ceo ne trovons pas
qui si servist saint Nicholas,
which may be translated, “Before this we do not find worshipers of
Saint Nicholas,” and seem to indicate that the composition of Wace was
connected in some way with a newly instituted church festival.
The story was one kept particularly in memory since, as remains to be
seen, it formed the subject of a schoolboy play enacted by the boys on
St. Nicholas’ eve. It also forms the subject of two of the scenes in
fresco, possibly by Giottino, possibly by Giotto himself, as a young
man, in the church of St. Francis at Assisi. The first scene in these
frescoes represents a boy prisoner of a Saracen king in the act of
raising a cup to his lord seated at table, when St. Nicholas, hovering
above, grasps him by the hair to bear him away. The second scene
represents St. Nicholas, bringing back the boy, with the cup still in
his hands, and restoring him to the astonished father and mother seated
at table. The scene is an animated one. The father with both arms
embraces his son, and the mother stretches out her arms. A youth in
the group, with clasped hands looks to heaven, and a monk, astonished,
lifts his arms. Not least of all, a little dog betrays his recognition
of the restored boy.[37]
Another story of this kind is thus told in the Golden Legend:
Another nobleman prayed to S. Nicholas that he would, by his
merits, get of our Lord that he might have a son, and promised
that he would bring his son to the church, and would offer him
a cup of gold. Then the son was born and came to age, and the
father commanded to make a cup, and the cup pleased him much, and
he retained it for himself, and did do make another of the same
value. And they went sailing in a ship toward the church of S.
Nicholas, and when the child would have filled the cup, he fell
into the water with the cup and anon was lost, and came no more up.
Yet nevertheless the father performed his avow, in weeping much
tenderly for his son; and when he came to the altar of S. Nicholas
he offered the second cup, and when he had offered it, it fell
down, like as one had cast it under the altar. And he took it up
and set it again upon the altar, and then yet was it cast further
than tofore, and yet he took it up and remised it the third time
upon the altar; and it was thrown again further than tofore. Of
which thing all they that were there marvelled, and men came for
to see this thing. And anon, the child that had fallen in the sea,
came again prestly before them all, and brought in his hands the
first cup, and recounted to the people that, anon as he was fallen
in the sea, the blessed S. Nicholas came and kept him that he had
none harm. And thus the father was glad and offered to S. Nicholas
both the two cups.
This story is represented in one of the frescoed scenes in the
Chapel of the Sacrament at Santa Croce in Florence and in the
Franciscan Church at Assisi. It also forms one of the scenes carved on
the Winchester baptismal font.
[Illustration: Fresco at S. Croce, Attributed to G. Starnina. St.
Nicholas Restores to his Father the Son with the Cup lost at Sea.
Brogi]
Still another story in which St. Nicholas appears as the guardian angel
of schoolboys, is the one dealing with the resuscitation of the three
schoolboys murdered on their journey home. The story, which appears in
a number of variant forms, relates how three boys, on their journey
home from school, take lodging at an inn, or as some versions have it,
farmhouse. In the night the treacherous host and hostess murder the
boys, cut up their three bodies, and throw the pieces into casks used
for salting meat. In the morning St. Nicholas appears and calls the
guilty ones to task. They deny guilt, but are convicted when the saint
causes the boys, sound of body and limb, to arise from the casks. This
story, of repellent detail, is “not known among the Greeks, who are so
devoted to St. Nicholas.”[38] It is also not included in the Golden
Legend nor in the Roman _Breviary_. It seems to have been one of the
elements added to the legend after the development of St. Nicholas
worship in the West. Its earliest record is said to be that in the
French life of St. Nicholas by Wace. With the incident in the story,
Wace connects the great honor paid to St. Nicholas by schoolboys.
“Because,” says Wace, “he did such honor to schoolboys, they celebrate
this day [Dec. 6] by reading and singing and reciting the miracles of
St. Nicholas.”
Different attempts have been made to explain the origin of this, at
first, repellent story. One critic finds the explanation of the story
in the conventional methods of medieval art. He explains it as growing
out of a misinterpretation of an illustration representing one of
the incidents in the earlier story of St. Nicholas, the well-known
story of the succor lent by St. Nicholas to the three officers
condemned to death by Constantine. The three captives, after the
manner of the Middle Ages, were supposedly represented in a tower,
and in order to make the scene more visible, only the upper part of
the tower was represented. Then, too, in order to bring about the
desired subordination of human to divine, the medieval artist would
reduce the size of tower and prisoners in relation to the intervening
saint, so that the tower would become, in appearance, a cask, and
the three officers, little boys. From this pictorial representation
misunderstood, if we adopt this theory, arose the story of the three
boys brought to life from the packing cask.[38]
[Illustration: L. di Bicci (?). St. Nicholas and the Murdered
Schoolboys.
Metropolitan Museum of Art]
Another explanation of the story is to be found in the association,
to be discussed later, between St. Nicholas and the northern water
demon known as “Nix” or “Old Nick.” According to belief prevalent in
northern lands, the souls of drowned people are kept by Nix in pots.
When one remembers that souls were generally represented in the form
of children, one may see the close analogy between the pots of the
water demon and the tubs from which St. Nicholas resuscitated the
schoolboys.[39]
Mrs. Jameson has still another explanation to offer. To use her own
words: “The story is sometimes treated as a religious allegory,
referring to the conversion of sinners or unbelievers. In some pictures
the host is represented as a demon with hoofs and claws.”
The explanations just offered, afford interesting illustration of the
ingenuity of the folk-lorist but seem superfluous. The tale could
hardly be improved on for the use it serves, to excite the gratitude of
young schoolboys. The details, repellent perhaps to the modern adult,
trained in the school of modern naturalism, are, if one stops to think,
features characteristic of the world’s classic folk-tales for children.
The ogre-like ferocity of the host and hostess where the boys lodged,
is quite in keeping with the tone of little Red Riding Hood or of
Bluebeard.
In any event we may infer popularity of this tale from its wide
prevalence. The central scene of the famous story is represented among
the sculptured scenes of the church of St. Nicholas at Bari, and among
the frescoed scenes at Santa Croce. It is pictured on the pages of the
Salisbury missal and forms the subject of several canvas paintings by
early artists. Up to within recent times a picture of St. Nicholas
standing by a tub from which were emerging three boys, was to be
seen painted on the side of a prominent house in Amsterdam, with the
inscription “Sinterklaes.”[40] It was one of the stories dramatically
presented by medieval schoolboys on St. Nicholas’ eve. Down to our own
day it has continued to be the subject of a song used in the popular
dances of the Faröe Islands. The youths rising from the cask became
a constant symbol used in representing St. Nicholas. In the churches
of Brittany, and doubtless elsewhere in France and Belgium, among the
images of saints occupying places on the pillars within the church,
or standing as sentinels on each side of the recessed portals, St.
Nicholas is frequently to be met with, always to be recognized by his
conventional pedestal formed by the tub from which are issuing the
three saved boys.
[Illustration: F. Pesellino. St. Nicholas and the Murdered Schoolboys.
Alinari]
A charming version of the story appears in a French folk-song,
effectively rendered by Yvette Guilbert appropriately garbed in the
robes of the kindly bishop. Anatole France, too, has brought to bear
on this story, his gift of paradox in a highly diverting version
containing a sequel in which the innocent St. Nicholas suffers every
conceivable form of injury from the three rescued boys, who prove to be
incarnations of three varied forms of human depravity.
St. Nicholas, the youth of exemplary piety, we may hope inspired
proper emulation on the part of schoolboys. St. Nicholas, the generous
protector, and friend, we may be sure was an object of schoolboy
gratitude and love. The memory of his kindly deeds was kept alive
not only in recited story, but in carved stone and painted wall. The
boys themselves sang about them in beloved songs and enacted them
in spirited plays. But the beneficence of the kindly saint was not
confined to the past. The gifts mysteriously bestowed on the saint’s
festival eve have kept alive the feelings of gratitude, and through
the centuries boys have continued to look to St. Nicholas for aid and
protection. “St. Nicholas be thy speed,” facetiously remarks Launce,
to Speed who is about to give an exhibition of his ability to read.
Even in his athletics the English schoolboy has continued to invoke
the assistance of his patron saint. According to Brand,[41] if a boy
is pursued and about to be caught, the cry of _Nic’las_ entitles him
to a suspension of the play for a moment. Or if he is not ready, or is
obliged to stop, to fasten his shoe or make other readjustment, the
same magic word affords him protection. One is reluctant to associate
St. Nicholas with the methods, not always above question, sometimes
used by the athlete in order to gain time or wind, but this continued
use of the name of Nicholas in sports bears eloquent testimony to the
place their saint has occupied in the hearts of schoolboys.
[Illustration: A. Lorenzetti. St. Nicholas Providing the Dower for the
Three Maidens.
Alinari]