Pastor’s Letter: December 7, 2025

Pastor’s Letter: December 7, 2025

5 Dec 2025 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,

Blessed Advent to you! I hope everyone has had a good beginning to this season of prayer and preparation! A few times over the past couple of weeks, someone has asked for more information about St. Nicholas. For those who attend daily Mass, our morning Mass Dec 6 celebrates/celebrated the memorial of St. Nicholas, who was a bishop of Myra in Asia Minor (present day Turkey) during the 4^th century. As most descriptions note, St. Nicholas was known as a good pastor and someone who lived great charity. Of course, the big question everyone always wants to ask…”Is this the same guy as Santa?”  If you are curious…keep reading!

The Pocket Dictionary of Saints teaches that the name Santa Claus came from the Dutch, who contracted and abbreviated the name St. Nicholas into Sint Klaes and then Santa Claus… And I always thought my hometown pastor made that one up! =)

The Catholic Source Book gives a nice summary of St. Nicholas: “Our ubiquitous [meaning everywhere at the same time], gift-bearing Santa Claus originates in that legendary gift-giving bishop, Nicholas, of Myra, Asia Minor. In the beginning, it was more a matter of justice than generosity that caused him to give the gift that started the tradition. At least according to one of many colorful legends, he supplied three bags of gold, anonymously, to three sisters who were being reduced to prostitution because their poor father was unable to provide their dowries. (His gifts, tossed in the window, landed in the girls’ stockings which were hung by the mantle with care. Sound familiar?)

Throughout the centuries this generous, compassionate bishop has been a favorite in the Eastern Church, and gift-giving a favorite memorial on his feast, December 6. In an outpouring of zealous—if superficial—piety, some Protestants banished him from calendar and custom, replacing him with a secular but still gift-giving counterpart: Father Christmas being the English version, Pere Noel the French. But the durable bishop survived…

While gift-giving remains, and his name—Saint Nikolaas, Sinterklaas, Santa Claus—is still close, his image has changed. Credit (or blame) for this goes to two people—Clement Moore and Thomas Nast. Dr. Clement Moore, a theologian, authored in 1822 “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (also known as “The Night before Christmas”). That’s where Bishop Nicholas gets embellished with a toy bag, pipe, reindeer, sleigh, and a chimney entrance. Moore had ample resources in the Dutch immigrants who brought Sinterklaas to the New World.

What imagination lacked, Thomas Nast supplied in his Harper’s Weekly cartoons of the 1860s and ‘70s. It was his pen that fleshed out the image—and the frame—of Santa Claus. But underneath it all, there is still the robed gift-giver of Myra—Nicholas.

Actual devotion to St. Nicholas is largely submerged in contemporary Santa Claus extravagance and lost among a million independent Clauses. Still, some stubbornly celebrate on Santa’s original feast (Dec 6) with a St. Nicholas breakfast. In honor of this Byzantine bishop’s justice and generosity, food and clothing are collected for people in need” (The Catholic Source Book, p. 341).

I don’t know about you, but the idea of a St. Nicholas breakfast sounds really great! After a  quick search, it seems that a St. Nicholas breakfast could include any of the typical foods we would eat for breakfast, along with any cultural foods, special drinks, and treats. If you happened to miss celebrating a St. Nicholas breakfast on Dec 6, I would encourage you to make it up on Sunday! =)

If you enjoyed seeing how the name Santa Claus developed, here is a bonus from the Catholic Encyclopedia (can be found at newadvent.org): Where does the name of Christmas come from? Perhaps it shouldn’t surprise us, but the name actually comes from the Mass we celebrate for Dec 25!

“The word for Christmas in late Old English is Cristes Maesse, the Mass of Christ, first found in 1038, and Cristes-messe, in 1131. In Dutch it is Kerstmis, in Latin Dies Natalis, whence comes the French Noël, and Italian Il natale; in German Weihnachtsfest, from the preceeding sacred vigil…”

Know of my prayers and blessing for you all this week!

In Christ,
Father Luke