It’s that magical time of year again when my friend, poor Rod Bennett, has to command the tide of Urban Legend to roll back by reminding everybody that there is absolutely no evidence for and nothing to the pernicious lie that St. Nicholas punched out Arius.
He moans:
People hate me for being a spoil sport here, but none of this has any basis in fact (trust me, I just spent 10 years writing a book about Arius). We actually have a list of all the bishops present at Nicaea and Nicholas isn’t on it. In fact, the one single historical fact we do know about him is that he was bishop of Myra in N Africa during the 4th century. Literally everything else is legend. I wouldn’t carp if it weren’t for the fact that a lot of this goes out under the “Real Truth about Santa Claus” heading. One of the great stumbling blocks for our separated brethren is the idea that we Catholics base our faith on a lot of old medieval fables–of which this is definitely one. IOW, when we undertake to tell “the Real Truth” about something…we need to make sure it really is the real truth. Sorry to preach–but this, apparently, is my cross to bear every Advent!
Here’s the thing: The whole “violent St. Nicholas” thing was the basis of a few gags that were funny for about five minutes ten years ago. I enjoy tales of the odd foibles of saints as much as anybody. (St. Teresa of Avila is a particular good source for such things, as is the irascible St. Jerome and the regular card St. Philip Neri). But sometimes, the failings of the saint get glommed on to by popular piety and stop being warnings that even saints sin and instead become excuses for people prone to certain sins to rationalize them as virtues.
In our time, with the rise of a violent, Reactionary subculture in the Church eager to punish its enemies, this particular legend is becoming a sort of passive mutual fist bump among terrible people. It helps form a toxic cultural mulch that feeds the imagination and discourse of an even more toxic subculture of Reactionary Catholics with a taste for sacred violence and a rich fantasy life about all the people they would punch out, maim, or kill if they got the chance come the Great Cleansing Purge they long for. Don’t add to that mulch. It’s a lie and it encourages violence and helps crowd the side of a boat that is already nearly gunwale under.
That said, here’s a fun podcast I did with Rod some years back on this very topic:
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3 Responses
»even saints sin and instead become excuses for people prone to certain sins to rationalize them as virtues«
THIS! So much this!!! I was looking for a good response to this for ages. THANK YOU!
Excellent, please repeat this as often as necessary.
Btw, “St. Nicholas of Myra, Bari, and Manhattan,” is an excellent book on the topic, both the legend and the (incredibly skimpy) history: https://archive.org/details/saintnicholasofm0000jone_s1u6
It’s funny which made-up hagiographies people latch onto and which they don’t. St. Nick punched a guy? Sure. St. Christopher was a furry? Nope.