Nicholas — best known as Santa Claus — is one of the most popular of all the saints, but paradoxically very little is known of him as a man: the only certainty is that he was bishop of Myra (now Mugla in south-western Turkey) during the fourth century.

Legends about the saint are highly fanciful, but all attest to his loving kindness. He is said to have saved three girls from prostitution by providing three bags of gold for their dowries, to have saved from death three unjustly condemned men, to have rescued three sailors from drowning and — the most popular tale — to have brought to life three boys who were murdered by a butcher and hidden in a bran tub.

Many of his patronages spring from these stories, the most popular being his ptronage of children. The long-standing tradition in the Low Countries of giving presents to children on his feast day — just one of many local customs which grew up as part of his cult — is the basis for his modern metamorphosis into Santa Claus. Dutch settlers in North America knew him as Sinta Klaas, a dialect version of his name, and merged legends about his generosity to children with Scandinavian folklore tales about a wizard who rewarded good children with presents; these became popular in the United States and them spread worldwide.