Dear Santa, here's what I want for Christmas...

And what about you? Do you still believe?

Scraped from The Patriot Post. For "NPR", Canadian readers please read "CBC" and British readers please read "BBC".

Yes, Virginia, there really is a Saint Nicholas

There are modernists in the Catholic Church who downplay the importance, even the very existence, of the saints, especially those canonized long ago, who aren't mentioned in the Bible and about whom little is known. 

Saints Christopher and Valentine, for instance, no longer appear in the post-Vatican II calendar. Another saint about whom there are doubters is Saint Nicholas, the philanthropic Greek bishop and inspiration behind the Christmas icon, Santa Claus.

Born some time after A.D. 260 in Myra (now the Demre district of Antalya, Turkïye), Saint Nicholas was an early Christian bishop. He became idolised for his kindness and generosity, tales of him giving money to those less fortunate lending themselves to legends of miracle work. He is now the patron saint of children and sailors.

Over time, reverence for the holy figure evolved into the creation of Santa Claus, the jolly bearded present-giver and symbol of western Christmas celebrations. The name Santa Claus came from the Dutch name for Saint Nicholas -- Sinter Klaas. His feast day is December 6th. Coincidentally -- call it a miracle? -- it was on that day that archaelogists announced that they have discovered what they believe to be the saint's tomb!

Very little is actually known about the real Saint Nicholas, except that he was buried in the church named after him following his death around A.D. 343 A.D. His actual body's whereabouts have always remained a mystery. It was thought to have been stolen in 1087 and smuggled to the Basilica di San Nicola in Bari, Italy. While scientific studies have been carried out on these bones, the evidence that they actually belonged to Saint Nicholas remain inconclusive.

What has been unearthed now is a six-foot-long limestone sarcophagus found buried six feet deep within the two-story annex of the Church of Saint Nicholas Church in Demre, long considered the final resting place of the saint.

Excavations have been under way there since 1989, but this latest find is the most intriguing yet. The project was led by Ebru Fatma Findik, an Associate Professor at Hatay Kemal University, as part of the "Legacy for the Future Project". 

Professor Findik told Turkish media,  "The fact we have found a sarcophagus near the church, which is thought to house his tomb, may indicate that this is indeed the sacred area we have been searching for. This is a significant archaeological confirmation of historical sources regarding the burial place of St Nicholas." 

So far, only the lid of the tomb has been completely uncovered, with a small section of the burial chamber visible. The team are planning further excavations in the coming months to find more clues. While its location lends credibility to the tomb belonging to Saint Nicholas, the research team are now hoping to find an inscription that might reveal more details about who was inside. Speaking to Türkiye Today, Prof. Findik added, "Our biggest hope is to find an inscription on the sarcophagus. This would help clarify the burial contents and allow us to determine the exact period it dates from."

This news should give people -- the doubters as well as the faithful -- pause to recollect that Christmas is, in fact, a Christian festival, based on not just the Holy Bible, but on the traditions handed down to us from our fathers in Faith... like Saint Nicholas.

Christmas greeting from President and Mrs Biden

This is real, not made up by the Babylon Bee. Story below.

   

The President of the United States of America was fooled by the father of some children that he called for Christmas to track Santa Claus via NORAD.

Mr Biden spoke with several couples and children during the traditional Santa tracking event with military families, a tradition for the presidents on Christmas Eve. First Lady Jill Biden led the call, while the president chimed in on occasion. 

"Merry Christmas, and let's go, Brandon!" the father named "Jared" said, referring to a phrase popular with readers of WWW, and the President expressed his agreement.

UN PC police out to get Zwarte Piet

Today Walt was saddened (but not surprised) to learn of the latest attack of the PC police on European Christian tradition. The target this month is a character from Dutch-Flemish folklore, an important part of the Santa Claus and Christmas tradition of the Netherlands and the northern part of Belgium.

The big day for good little Dutch boys and girls is December 6th. That's when Sinterklaas [= "Santa Claus"! Ed.] comes to town. Families gather together to read poems ["The Night Before Christmas" maybe? Ed.] and exchange gifts.

Jolly old Saint Nick doesn't come by reindeer-powered sleigh. No sir! He comes by boat, not from the North Pole but from Spain. And he has company, too -- a comical helper known as "Zwarte Piet". As you can see in the picture, "Black Pete" (as he would be called in English) has a black face, red lips and curly hair. So, as was bound to happen eventually, the chairthingy of a UN Human Rights Commission yesterday condemned Piet as "an offensive caricature of black people".

"The working group does not understand why it is that people in the Netherlands cannot see that this is a throwback to slavery, and that in the 21st century this practice should stop," Verene Shepherd told the Dutch television programme EenVandaag.

Many of the horrible racist Dutch -- including many dark-complected folks from the Dutch bits of the Caribbean -- disagree. Piet's supporters say he's a positive figure whose appearance is harmless. At one time, Piet was referred to as a "servant" of the elderly saint, but in recent years those references have been replaced with the idea that he gets black from soot as he climbs down chimneys to deliver toys and candy for children who leave their shoes -- wooden, of course -- out overnight.

Those opposed to tinkering with tradition have set up a Facebook page, with a "Pete-ition" [geddit? Ed.] to preserve the traditional appearance of Zwarte Piete. According to the Economist the page has already had over 2 million "likes", showing the strong emotional attachment that most Dutch have to the character. Being the last person on earth who refuses to join Facebook, I can't give you the link, but if you're on FB it shouldn't be hard to find it. Please do!

Further reading: "Christmas in Holland / the Netherlands".

Yes, there was a real Santa Claus

St. Nicholas of Myra (aka Santa Claus)

"Yes, Virginia, there was a Santa Claus." This is a "virtual clay" reconstruction of the face of St. Nicholas (A.D. 270-346), bishop of Myra, known today as "Santa Claus". He lived and died in the fourth century in what is now Turkey.

In early Christian times, Myra was the metropolis of Lycia in the Roman empire. St. Paul changed ships in its harbor. [Must have been the Atlanta of its day. Ed.] Today Myra boasts the ruins of an ancient Greek theatre and rock-cut tombs of the ancient Lycian necropolis.

So holy was St. Nicholas regarded after his death that his relics were carefully preserved and eventually moved to the Roman city of Barium, the capital city of Apulia, on the Adriatic coast of Italy. In the 1950s, the Saint's relics, including his skull, were removed while his crypt was being renovated. While the relics were temporarily out of the crypt, the Vatican asked an anatomy professor at the University of Bari to take thousands of minutely-detailed measurements and x-rays.

More recently, an expert facial anthropologist was commissioned to reconstruct the Saint's face and head using the new technology and the earlier measurements.

Why was Nicholas declared a saint? The most famous story to come down to us is that Nicholas, who was born into a wealthy family, heard of the plight of a father who could not afford dowries for his three daughters, and secretly left bags of gold coins at their home to provide the dowries and preserve the ladies from a likely fate as prostitutes. The father lay in wait the third time the donor was to visit and thus discovered the identity of the Saint.

But St. Nicholas was a true Christian. He understood that "charity" was not essentially handing out money, but love for Christ, shown particularly in preserving right doctrine (orthodoxy) against heresy (heterodoxy). Thus, St. Nicholas was an outspoken opponent of Arianism, the heresy that infected the popes and bishops of the Church of the fourth century. Arianism denies the divinity of Christ, and sadly persists in today's mainstream Roman Catholic Church.

In the end, the pugnacious St. Nicholas -- you can see that his nose was broken, possibly in a fistfight at a church council! -- and the other orthodox bishops carried the day against the heretical popes and bishops. The Council of Nicaea, the greatest council of the Church, vanquished the Arian heretics and confirmed the Biblical teaching that Christ was both true God and true man. May God grant us such a saint in our day to combat the heresies of the modern Church and re-establish traditional Catholicism.

Muslim fanatics threaten Catholics and Jews: NY archbishop

Most Rev. Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, has been mentioned in this blog before. He is, you see, one of the few members of the US Catholic hierarchy who is not afraid to speak the truth, no matter how politically incorrect the truth may be.

Earlier this month, he addressed more than 250 Jewish leaders assembled in New York for the annual meeting of the Anti-Defamation League, an organization that fights anti-Semitism. Why the ADL would invite a leading Roman Catholic to speak to them is a bit of a mystery, but never mind.

In his speech, Abp. Dolan took stock of Jewish-Catholic relations and urged Jews and Catholics to work together to protect religious freedom. Click here to read the Catholic News Service account of Archbishop Dolan's address.

Warning of a “possible movement by the government that would dangerously tread on issues of conscience and religion that our two families [sic] hold very dear,” the archbishop said that “internationally, all believers are in the crosshairs of fanatics around the world. Somewhere, someplace, somebody’s being persecuted to the point of blood because of their faith, and we need to stand together in defence of those people.”

“It would take an ostrich not to see that religious fanatics have in their cross hairs Jews and Catholics,” he added. “Perhaps you and I are going to be drawn closer together as we defend each other, as we try very creatively and energetically to reach out to moderate Islamic leaders to build mutual defence of religious rights.”

Reaching out to moderate Islamic leaders... Yes. Well... That is the politically correct thing to say, after all, but may not be factually correct. Walt is reminded of a story...

Q. Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, a moderate imam and an Islamist fanatic are competing in a foot race. The first one across the finish line wins a pot of gold. Which one finishes first and wins the prize?
A. The Islamist fanatic, of course. The other three are mythical characters.

But let's not let the lame conclusion distract us from the central truth of Archbishop Dolan's argument. Jews and Catholics, he said, need to “face realistically the common threat we have from fanatics, especially in the Islamist community.” They are out to get us; that's a fact!