Saint Nicholas of Myra
The Life and Legacy of the Ancient Christian Bishop Who Became the Inspiration for Santa Claus
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Narrated by:
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Colin Fluxman
About this listen
Christmas is the most important holiday of the year. After the corresponding days that exalt the national pride of each country, such as Independence Day in the US, Victory Day in Russia, or Bastille Day in France, it's December 25 that articulates the life, the work, and the economy in much of the world, including many non-Christian countries. Since ancient times, the beginning of winter has been the occasion for most people to eat, drink, dance, and get together to beat the drum and take a break.
One of the most important figures constantly brought up during the Christmas season is Saint Nicholas, despite the fact most people know little about him. In the 21st century, Saint Nicholas (or as people often refer to him, “Jolly Old Saint Nick”) has been reduced to a pretend, adorably portly grandfather-type, a visual often accompanied by a fleet of magical reindeer and a bustling workshop staffed by endlessly cheerful elves. Most assume, quite understandably, that Saint Nicholas was the fount of inspiration that Santa Claus' myth weavers steadily drank from over the centuries. While this is accurate to some extent, it is important to remember that the parallels between Saint Nicholas and the present-day Santa Claus marketed by mass media are actually quite limited.
For starters, despite centuries of unabashed whitewashing, science has confirmed that Saint Nicholas, as his birthplace should suggest, was not white, nor was he excessively overweight. In the early 2000s, teams of researchers acquired copies of X-rays and logs of measurements originally compiled by scientists of Nicholas’ skull in 1950, in the hopes of examining its framework in further detail. In 2004, a facial anthropologist at the University of Manchester, Dr. Caroline Wilkinson, succeeded in producing a forensically reconstructed three-dimensional model of Nicholas’ face; the reconstruction was refined in 2014. In both reconstructions, which captured Nicholas around the time of his death, his skin is olive-toned. It seems that he did sport a full beard, but it was untamed, scraggly, and silvery. He was balding and had benign but forgettable features, with slightly protruding ears, brown eyes the shape of almonds, and small, sunken cheeks. And whereas Santa is, to most young ones, deceptively tremendous in both height and girth, more so when pictured with his tiny elves, Nicholas was roughly five-feet-six-inches tall. Then there are the scientists who insist he was shorter and that his height was considerably below average, at just about five-feet-zero-inches.
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Francis and Jesus is the story of how the poor and humble St. Francis of Assisi gave away all to gain all, sharing in God's kingdom on Earth. Francis' life exemplifies what it means to be a genuine disciple of Jesus, walking in Christ's footsteps to show how ultimate truth is lived in small, unique ways. Franciscan Father Murray Bodo takes us on the journey with Francis, as we see his pain, his suffering, his dying to self. On that difficult road we are reminded that death to self creates new life....
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A tender, loving, and remarkably detailed telling
- By Gary Wayne Miller on 07-10-19
By: Murray Bodo
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Joan of Arc
- A Life Transfigured
- By: Kathryn Harrison
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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The profoundly inspiring and fully documented saga of Joan of Arc, the young peasant girl whose "voices" moved her to rally the French nation and a reluctant king against British invaders in 1428, has fascinated artistic figures as diverse as William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Voltaire, George Bernard Shaw, Bertolt Brecht, Carl Dreyer, and Robert Bresson. Was she a divinely inspired saint? A schizophrenic? A demonically possessed heretic, as her persecutors and captors tried to prove?
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Where Biography and Legend Collide
- By Troy on 12-23-14
By: Kathryn Harrison
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The Wife's Tale
- A Personal History
- By: Aida Edemariam
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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In this indelible memoir of the life of her remarkable 95-year-old grandmother, Guardian journalist Aida Edemariam tells the story of modern Ethiopia - a nation that underwent a tumultuous transformation from feudalism to monarchy to Marxist revolution to democracy, over the course of one century. Filled with a vivid cast of characters - emperors and empresses, priests and scholars, monks and nuns, archbishops and slaves, Marxist revolutionaries and wartime double agents - The Wife's Tale introduces a woman both imperious and vulnerable.
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A Look At Ethiopia
- By Jean on 07-15-18
By: Aida Edemariam
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Marco Polo
- From Venice to Xanadu
- By: Laurence Bergreen
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 16 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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As the most celebrated European to explore Asia, Marco Polo was the original global traveler and the earliest bridge between East and West. A universal icon of adventure and discovery, he has inspired six centuries of popular fascination and spurious mythology. Now, from acclaimed author Laurence Bergreen, comes the first fully authoritative biography of one of the most enchanting figures in world history.
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Educational and Entertaining but a bit repetitive
- By PETER on 01-02-13
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Caravaggio
- A Life Sacred and Profane
- By: Andrew Graham-Dixon
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 18 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In the tradition of John Richardson's Picasso, a commanding new biography of the Italian master's tumultuous life and mysterious death. For four hundred years Caravaggio's (1571-1610) staggering artistic achievements have thrilled viewers, yet his volatile personal trajectory - the murder of Ranuccio Tomasini, the doubt surrounding Caravaggio's sexuality, the chain of events that began with his imprisonment on Malta and ended with his premature death - has long confounded historians.
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Interesting life
- By Jean on 08-28-13
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St. Patrick of Ireland
- A Biography
- By: Philip Freeman
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Ireland's patron saint has long been shrouded in legend: he drove the snakes out of Ireland; he triumphed over Druids and their super-natural powers; he used a shamrock to explain the Christian mystery of the Trinity. But his true story is more fascinating than the myths.
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A Wonderful Discription
- By L. Thibodeaux on 08-12-05
By: Philip Freeman
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Sudden Death
- By: Álvaro Enrigue
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Sudden Death begins with a brutal tennis match that could decide the fate of the world. The bawdy Italian painter Caravaggio and the loutish Spanish poet Quevedo battle it out before a crowd that includes Galileo, Mary Magdalene, and a generation of popes who would throw Europe into the flames. In England, Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII behead Anne Boleyn, and her crafty executioner transforms her legendary locks into the most sought-after tennis balls of the time.
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So erudite, so many good images and juxtapositions
- By Alnia Perpoz on 08-17-19
By: Álvaro Enrigue
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Sylvia
- By: Bryce Courtenay
- Narrated by: Edwina Wren
- Length: 19 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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From master storyteller Bryce Courtenay comes a colorful, lusty story set in the 13th century, an epic tale of a Europe torn by religious intolerance. The story centers around Sylvia Honeyeater, who sings like an angel and can literally charm the birds from the trees. The narrative also features the Pied Piper of Hamelin, Francis of Assisi, the Muslim Sultan and his harem, and the fervor that becomes the Children's Crusade and then, later, the Crusades.
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a departure for Bryce
- By G. on 06-11-07
By: Bryce Courtenay
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A World Lit Only by Fire
- The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age
- By: William Manchester
- Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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From tales of chivalrous knights to the barbarity of trial by ordeal, no era has been a greater source of awe, horror, and wonder than the Middle Ages. In handsomely crafted prose and with the grace and authority of his extraordinary gift for narrative history, William Manchester leads us from a civilization tottering on the brink of collapse to the grandeur of its rebirth, the Renaissance.
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Ruined by the narrator
- By Wallen on 02-28-09
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Helena
- By: Evelyn Waugh
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Helena is the intelligent, horse-mad daughter of a British chieftan who is suddenly betrothed to the warrior who becomes the Roman emperor Constantius. She spends her life seeking truth in the religions, mythologies, and philosophies of the declining ancient world. This she eventually finds in Christianity-and literally in the Cross of Christ.The Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, made the historic pilgrimage to Palestine and built churches at Bethlehem and Olivet.
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And There Alone is Hope
- By John on 04-19-19
By: Evelyn Waugh
What listeners say about Saint Nicholas of Myra
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- James Stewart
- 11-06-22
St. Nicks prayers 🙏 brought the dead back to life
By some accounts St. Nick fasted every other day for the Lord. The Saint gave gifts to children by way of personal sacrifice...To be Santa 🎅 Claus...you must know Santa Claus 🎅 🤶
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