SAINT NICHOLAS "Never cease to work for children" Nicholas was born in Patara, possibly in the year 280, from well-to-do parents. As a baby, Nicholas did not demand his mother's breast on fast days (Wednesday and Friday) and was a sturdy child who managed to stand up prematurely in his washbasin and crib. As a young boy, Nicholas showed from the beginning that he wanted to please God. At the age of nineteen, Nicholas was ordained into the priesthood. Even before he became a priest, young Nicholas engaged in a deed of generosity involving gift giving, which may have grown into the tradition with which Saint Nicholas's name has since become so strongly linked. The story goes that Saint Nicholas heard that a widowed, penniless father was forced to "”sell off'” his oldest daughter to slavery or prostitution in order to care for his other two daughters. Having heard this, Nicholas tied three hundred florins into a handkerchief and threw the money through an open window. Nicholas performed this good deed for the other two widow's daughters. This good deed enabled the girls’ father to use the money as a dowry, so that all three of them could be married. Saint Nicholas, the most human of saints, was always ready to help where need existed. His protective powers enabled him to save sailors from being shipwrecked. He miraculously multiplied a shipment of grain to avert famine. He liberated falsely accused men on the eve of their executions. He brought three students back from the dead, and furthermore, he exposed a fraudulent debtor and exorcized demons. Saint Nicholas suffered torture and imprisonment during the persecution under the Emperor Diocletian. He was honored as a saint in Constantinople in the sixth century by the Emperor Justinian. In England, almost 400 churches were dedicated to Nicholas. Saint Nicholas has been associated with children from the very beginning, he has also been the patron saint of seafaring men, of merchants, of marriageable young women, of the falsely accuse, of endangered travelers, of farmers, and even of pawnbrokers. As a bearer of gifts to children, his name was brought to America by the Dutch colonists in New York, from whom he is popularly known as Santa Claus. Saint Nicholas is typically shown riding on a white horse and wearing robes of red. Emblems associated with Saint Nicholas are three gold balls, ships and an anchor. Saint Nicholas was donated by: Armand and Patty Pontremoli in memory of their Parents, Archimede and Virginia Pontremoli and Laura McPheron Raymond C Robertson in memory of Marie E. Robertson Mrs. Robt W. Rosenow in memory of Robt W., Roy and Ruth Rosenow Anthony and Sophie Panek