December
6Saints of the Day...and Events
December
6
Saints of the Day...and Events
T
he absence of the “hard facts” of history is not necessarily an obstacle to the popularity of saints, as the devotion to St. Nicholas shows. Both the Eastern and Western Churches honor him, and it is claimed that, after the Blessed Virgin, he is the saint most pictured by Christian artists. And yet, historically, we can pinpoint only the fact that Nicholas was the fourth-century bishop of Myra, a city in Lycia, a province of Asia Minor.Many stories grew up around him prior to his becoming Santa Claus. Some examples:
1- Perhaps the best-known story about Nicholas concerns
his charity toward a poor man who was unable to provide dowries for his three
daughters of marriageable age. Rather than see them forced into prostitution,
Nicholas secretly tossed a bag of gold through the poor man’s window on three
separate occasions, thus enabling the daughters to be married. Over the
centuries, this particular legend evolved into the custom of gift-giving on the
saint’s feast. In the English-speaking countries, St. Nicholas became, by a
twist of the tongue, Santa Claus—further expanding the example of
generosity portrayed by this holy bishop.
2- Upon hearing that a local man had fallen on such hard times that he was planning to sell his daughters into prostitution, Nicholas went by night to the house and threw three bags of gold in through the window, saving the girls from an evil life. These three bags, gold generously given in time of trouble, became the three golden balls that indicate a pawn broker's shop.
3- He raised to life three young boys who had been murdered and pickled in a barrel of brine to hide the crime. These stories led to his patronage of children in general, and of barrel-makers besides.
4- Induced some thieves to return their plunder. This explains his protection against theft and robbery, and his patronage of them - he's not helping them steal, but to repent and change. In the past, thieves have been known as Saint Nicholas' clerks or Knights of Saint Nicholas.
5- During a voyage to the Holy Lands, a fierce storm blew up, threatening the ship. He prayed over it, and the storm calmed - hence the patronage of sailors and those like dockworkers who work on the sea.
The rise of the factory system in 19th-century Germany brought many single men into cities where they faced new challenges to their faith. Father Adolph Kolping began a ministry to them, hoping that they would not be lost to the Catholic faith as was happening to workers elsewhere in industrialized Europe.
Born in the village of Kerpen, Adolph became a shoemaker at an early age because of his family’s economic situation. Ordained in 1845, he ministered to young workers in Cologne, establishing a choir, which by 1849 had grown into the Young Workmen’s Society. A branch of this began in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1856. Nine years later there were over 400 Gesellenvereine (workman’s societies) around the world. Today this group has over 400,000 members in 54 countries across the globe.
More commonly called the Kolping Society, it emphasizes the sanctification of family life and the dignity of labor. Father Kolping worked to improve conditions for workers and greatly assisted those in need. He and St. John Bosco in Turin had similar interests in working with young men in big cities. He told his followers, “The needs of the times will teach you what to do."
”Father Kolping once said, “The first thing that a person finds in life and the last to which he holds out his hand, and the most precious that he possess, even if he does not realize it, is family life.”
He and Blessed John Duns Scotus are buried in Cologne’s Minoritenkirche, served by the Conventual Franciscans. The Kolping Society’s international headquarters is at this church.
Kolping members journeyed to Rome from Europe, America,
Africa, Asia and Oceania for Father Kolping’s beatification in 1991, the
100th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s revolutionary encyclical Rerum Novarum
(On the Social Order). Father Kolping’s personal witness and apostolate helped
prepare for that encyclical.
Comment: Some people thought that Father Kolping was wasting his time and
talents on young working men in industrialized cities. In some countries, the
Catholic Church was seen by many workers as the ally of owners and the enemy of
workers. Men like Adolph Kolping showed that was not true.
Events of December 6 - Saints of December 6:
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