Jolly Old St. Nicholas Quiz

Question: What is St. Nicholas the patron saint of?

Answer: St. Nicholas is one of the patron saints of children and of sailors.

Question: When did devotion to St. Nicholas extend to all parts of Europe?

Answer: In the Middle Ages, devotion to Nicholas extended to all parts of Europe. He became the patron saint of Russia and Greece; of charitable fraternities and guilds; of children, sailors, unmarried girls, merchants, and pawnbrokers; and of such cities as Fribourg, in Switzerland, and Moscow.

Question: When did the legend of Sinterklaas, a Dutch variant of St. Nicholas, reach North America?

Answer: Dutch colonists took the tradition of Sinterklass to North America in the 17th century. Sinterklaas was adopted by the country’s English-speaking majority under the name Santa Claus.

Question: What name was St. Nicholas known by in Holland after the Protestant Reformation?

Answer: After the Reformation, devotion to Nicholas disappeared in all the Protestant countries of Europe except Holland, where his legend persisted as Sinterklaas.

Question: Is St. Nicholas’s existence confirmed by historical documentation?

Answer: St. Nicholas’s existence is not attested by any historical document, so nothing certain is known of his life except that he was probably bishop of Myra in the 4th century.

Question: When is St. Nicholas Day?

Answer: In many countries children receive gifts on December 6, St. Nicholas Day.