Every December we’re swamped with images of America’s greatest salesman – Santa Claus – hawking everything from fast food to automobiles. In the deluge of media hype, there are always a few stories reminding us that the idea of “Santa Claus” evolved from St. Nicholas, and one or two of those stories might go so far as to explain the real Nicholas was a kindly bishop of Myra (today known as Demre and located in modern-day Turkey). But how many people know that St. Nicholas is also the patron of sailors and ships, offering safe voyage and protection from storms? The Legend of St. Nicholas begins with a poor family of Myra who could not provide dowries for three daughters. Since the girls were unable to marry, they would have to be sold into slavery. It is said that Nicholas saved the day by riding past the house late at
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