Throughout the month of December, our Sanctuary of Health and Peace has been celebrating the Christmas season, highlighting the true meaning of Christmas: the celebration of the coming of Jesus. During this time, the coffee served on Sunday mornings has taken on a special touch with Christmas music and treats for the children. A vast program also invites pilgrims to get into the spirit, such as the Christmas Cantata and Concert held in recent weeks.

But one very striking figure, attracting the attention of children and boosting commerce quite extensively during this Christmas season, is Santa Claus. But did this character really exist? Who is the real "Good Old Man"?

Believe it or not… Santa Claus really exists and lives in Heaven! He is a saint of the Catholic Church: Saint Nicholas. He appears at Christmas because Saint Nicholas' Day is very close to the date: December 6th. The tradition of children receiving gifts and sweets on Saint Nicholas' Day began in Germany, but it soon spread throughout Europe. This is because Bishop Nicholas was known for asking for toys and distributing them to needy children in Turkey, where he was born, lived his priestly mission, and died.

How did Nicholas become Santa Claus?

It was in the United States, in 1822. A New York teacher, Clement Clark Moore, wrote a story in the form of a poem for his children called "A Visit from St. Nicholas." In this poem, he invented that Nicholas traveled in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, entered through the chimney, etc. And, since in the United States the majority of the population was Protestant, businesses didn't sell sweets and toys at Christmas time as they did in Europe on St. Nicholas Day. So they had the idea of spreading the story of Thomas Nast's poem and transforming it into a legend where a kind old man who has a gift factory at the North Pole delivers presents to children at Christmas, so that parents would buy presents and not disappoint their children.

It wouldn't have looked good for an American Santa Claus to go around dressed as a Catholic saint. So, for a special Christmas edition of a magazine, the cartoonist Thomas Nast, in 1886, took advantage of the chubby, white-bearded, red-robed figure of a bishop, but swapped his bishop's robes for warmer ones, with good boots and furs for walking in the snow. But even today in Europe, children celebrate Saint Nicholas: wearing the ecclesiastical vestments of a bishop, but instead of a red cap, they wear an episcopal mitre.

Noel refers to the word "Christmas." But in each part of the world, it is called by a different name.

Now that we know all about the real Santa Claus, we can use the figure of "Father Christmas" in our Christmas decorations, certain that Saint Nicholas will be represented in it. Saint Nicholas, or Santa Claus as we call him, represents kindness, charity, and sharing our happiness through gifts for the birth of the Baby Jesus. It only loses its meaning when people forget the birthday boy… Because Nicholas is a friend of Jesus, and Jesus is the true owner of the celebration.

*with information from blog.cancaonova.com.br