Nicholas was born in Patras around the year 280. It immediately becomes clear that this is a special child: little Nicholas stands upright in his bath water with folded hands and as an infant he refuses to receive breast milk from his mother on fast days. There is no other way; pious Nicholas becomes bishop; from Myra in Asia Minor, present-day Turkey. After a godly life, Nicholas dies on December 6, presumably in the year 342. The remains of the bishop are interred in the basilica of Myra.
Early in the sixth century, Nicholas becomes famous for his sense of charity and the many miracles he performed. He is canonized. When Myra fell to Muslims in 1087, 87 fishermen took the saint from his grave and rowed him to Bari in Italy. From then on his worship spread all over the world; numerous legends are doing the rounds.
One of them tells how the saint assists a pious nobleman. The squire is so poor that he is forced to drive his three virgin daughters into prostitution. Nicholas comes to the rescue of the desperate father: three nights in a row he throws a bag of gold coins through the open windows to provide each of the daughters with a dowry. On the third night, his good deed is noticed. The cupbearer persuades the father to conceal his generosity from the daughters. Nicholas thus becomes the personification of generosity, chastity and modesty.
Another story has Nicholas take up residence in a time of famine in an inn whose innkeeper has murdered three children. The little ones are cut into pieces and planted in the brine vessel. They don’t end up on the guests’ plates; Nicholas miraculously brings the children back to life. The penitent innkeeper and his wife convert to Christianity.
Finally, a posthumously performed miracle brings us to Nicholas’ patronage of Amsterdam.
When the crew of a sinking ship invokes the saint, Nicholas appears in the clouds. With a single gesture of his hand he manages to calm the turbulent waves. The sailors are saved. Amsterdam is growing because of shipping. Saint Nicholas is therefore not only adopted as the patron saint of seafarers, but also of the thriving trading city itself.
In Amsterdam, three churches in a row are dedicated to Nicholas: the Oude Kerk, Ons Lieve Heer op Solder and the Nicolaaskerk near Central Station.
