In 2013 I wrote on Mynheer’s etched-glass screen of St. Nicholas and St. Edward the Confessor, which I had the privilege of seeing in situ. ArtWay has just published an adaptation of that article today, St. Nicholas’s feast day: http://www.artway.eu/content.php?id=2008&action=show&lang=en.

We’ve grown accustomed to thinking of St. Nick as a secular figure—rotund, rosy cheeked, with a train of reindeer carrying him in tow. He invites wishlists but dispenses gifts based on the recipient’s degree of “niceness.” The historical saint, on the other hand, is characterized first and foremost by his Christ-like love and generosity, given regardless of merit. As bishop of Myra, he was also an attendee of the Council of Nicaea, where his theological rigor allegedly came to a head in a somewhat humorous encounter with Arius.

To learn more about the man and the legend, read “The Real Saint Nick.”