SANTA CLAUS INTERCEDED FOR THE BIRTH OF THE PATRON OF THE HOLY SOULS, ST NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINO

I was much too absorbed with St Nicholas of Tolentino's parents' infertility woes and that they had him very late in life to take good note of the fact that Nicholas of Tolentino is the patron saint of holy souls. True, his parents had been trying for a baby for many years, and at that time in Italy, the 1200s, they had little by way of a thorough medical diagnosis. 

For the intention that they'd have a child, they made a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Nicholas of Myra, who everyone knows as "Santa Claus". Shortly afterwards, a little one came along and they named him "Nicholas" in honor of the saint whose intercession they credited with giving them their baby boy. For this reason, I put forth St Nicholas of Myra / Santa Claus as an intercessor for couples who are trying to conceive. 

Nicholas of Tolentino grew up to be very like his patron, Santa Claus. He became a priest and was renowned for his great miraculous feats. Astoundingly, he raised over 100 children from the dead; a millennium before that, Sant Claus raised 3 children from the dead who had been butchered. Nicholas of Tolentino could quell storms at sea and at his word fires were extinguished. This was in a century when fire brigades were not even a figment of the imagination. 

His adopted town of Tolentino became famous for the many people who came to see Nicholas, and in spite of his fame, Nicholas underwent heroic fasts. Once he was so weak after fasting so long that Our Lord, Our Lady, St Monica and St Augustine appeared to him and they instructed him to eat bread signed with the cross and dipped in water. This he did, and his strength and health was restored. Nicholas used this same sustenance to heal the sick and many, many people were healed from a huge number of ailments and diseases by partaking in a fare that became known as "St Nicholas's Bread".

But Nicholas's white hot zeal to help the holy souls set him apart. He liked walking around Tolentino in the dead of night and praying for departed souls. One Saturday night as he was about to sleep, he heard the voice of an old friend, Friar Pellegrino of Osimo, who had gone to God some time before. Friar Pellegrino begged Nicholas to have Masses offered for him and other souls that they might leave Purgatory soon. Nicholas offered Mass everyday for Pellegrino during the following week, and was then greeted with the sight of Pellegrino going to Heaven. 

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This account was informed by Val Conlon's In the Friendship of God, Divine Mercy Publications, Dublin, 2009, page 24

The first image, that of St Nicholas of Myra or "Santa Claus" was executed by Jaroslav Čermák. The second image was executed by Francisco Herrera the Younger. Both images are in the public domain.