It is a curious fact that in the Russian Church the anni- versary of Nicholas's translation to Bari is still observed as a festival on May 9th. In Greek pictures he is repre- sented like a Greek bishop, with no mi tre, the cross in place of the crosier, and the persons of the Trinitj- embroidered
St. Nicholas of Myra.
on his cope. In Western art he has the bishop's dress, the mitre, the cope very much ornamented, and the crosier and jewelled gloves. His attributes are three balls, which are on the book at his feet or in his lap. They are said to represent the three purses which he threw into the window of a poor nobleman, or three loaves of bread, emblematic of his feeding the poor; or, again, the persons of the Trinity. The first interpreta- tion is the most general. See Nicholas of Tolentino. He is chief patron of Russia, patron of Bari, Venice, and Freiburg, as well as many other towns and cities, num- bers of them being seaport places. He is regarded in Roman Catholic countries as the especial patron of the young, and particularly of scholars. In England his feast was celebrated in ancient times with great solem- nity in the public schools, Eton, Sarum Cathedral, and elsewhere; and a curious practice, founded upon this characteristic of St. Nicholas, still subsists in some coun- tries, especially in Germany. On the vigil of his feast, which is held on December G, a person in the appear- ance and costume of a bishop assembles the children of a family or of a school, and distributes among them, to the good children gilt nuts, sweetmeats, and other little presents, as the reward of good conduct ; to the naughty ones the redoubtable punishment of the " Klaubauf." Numberless biographical sketches and narratives of his miraculous deeds abound. Some of them are in printed, others in JIS. form. The most noteworthy are, Leonis impei-at. orat. gr. j)rod. (Tolos. 1G44) ; An- dj-ece Creiensis inter ejusclem orationes Lat. (ed. Com- belis) ; Vita et 3fetapk7-aste, et aliis collecta a Leonardo Justiniano, torn, i, ap. Lipom et ap. Surium, G Dec. ; Ni- colai Studita, in tom. ii Auctar. novi. Combefis. For other notices, especially those in MS. form, see Fabri- cius, Eihl. GrcEca (ed. Harl.), x, 298 ; xi, 292 ; and Tille- mont, Memoires EccUsiastiques, vi, 760, 765, 952. See also Ceillier, Histoire des Auteiirs Sacres, xi, 347 et al. ; Stanley, Led. on the Hist, of the East. Ch. p. 200, 224 ; Clement, Hand-hook of Legendary and Mythological A rt, s. v.; Broughton, Bibliotheca Historica Sacra, vol. ii, s. v.; Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, i, 415-31. (.T. H.W.)
Nicholas (St.), surnamed Peregrixas, was an ascetic of note, especially in Apulea. He was a native of Attica, in Greece. His history is purely tradition- ary, and the dates, as well as the statements, are uncer- tain. His parents are said to have been poor, and he ;vas not taught to read or bred to any trade. When he was eight years of age his mother sent him out to take care of sheep. From this time he began to sing aloud, Kyrie eleeison, which he did night and day ; and this act of devotion he continued all his life. His mother, according to the legends, thought he was pos- sessed of the devil, and carried him to a neighboring monastery, where the monks shut him up and chastised him, but could not hinder him from singing his song. He suffered punishment patiently, and immediately be- gan again. Returning to his mother, he took a hatchet and knife, and, clambering up a mountain, cut branches of cedar, and made crosses of them, which he stuck up in the highways, and in places inaccessible, praising God continually. Upon this mountain he built a hut, and dv,-elt there some time all alone, working continually. Then he went to Lepanto, where a monk joined him- self to him, and never forsook him. Together they went into Italy, where Nicholas passed sometimes for a holy man, and sometimes for a madman. He fasted every day till evening; his food was a little bread and water, and yet he did not grow lean. The nights he usually passed in prayer, standing upright. He wore only a short vest reaching to the knees, his head, legs, and feet being naked. In his right hand he carried a light wooden cross, and a script at his side, to receive the alms which were given him, and which he usually laid out in fruit, to distribute to the boys who went about with him singing along with him Kyrie ekeison. His oddities caused him to be ill-used sometimes, even
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by the orders of the bishops. He is said to have per- formed various miracles, and to have exhorted the peo- ple to repentance. At last falling sick, and visited by multitudes who came to beg his blessing, he died, and was buried in a cathedral with great solemnity, and ac- cording to custom a great number of miracles were wrought at his tomb. See Fleury, Ilistoire Ecdesias- tique, xiii, 586; Jortin, Eccles. Rem, iii, 143; Ceillier, Hist, des Auteurs Sacres, xiii, 438.
Nicholas de Pistorio, a monastic who labored for the Christian cause in the missionary field, flourished in the second half of the 13th centur_v. He was a mem- ber of the Dominican order, but allied himself with the celebrated Franciscan Jolin de Monte Corvino, and ac- companied him in his missionary tour to Persia and India. Nicholas de Pistorio died in India some time after 1291. His memory is revered in all the churches of Christ for his great zeal in the cause of the Master.