When my children were young, I told them stories from the life of St. Nicholas. I told them the story of the widower’s daughters and the gold coins, of course, so that they would understand the significance of the stockings hung by the chimney with care. But that story, as sweet as it is, didn’t really capture their imaginations. They liked it, but they didn’t love it.
The story that they loved was the story of St. Nicholas saving three innocent young men from execution. The oldest version of the story was written in Greek roughly 50 years after St. Nicholas died. The story was retold by others over the years, most notably in the oldest surviving Life of St. Nicholas, written by Michael the Archimandrite before the year 850.
As you expect with stories that are handed down over the centuries, the various versions of the story don’t agree in all the particulars. What they do have in common is this: a government official was given a bribe to accuse, arrest, convict, and execute three innocent young men. St. Nicholas was told what was happening, and he rushed to the execution field, where he took the sword away from the executioner and freed the innocent men.
When I told my children this story, there was still a lot I didn’t know about St. Nicholas. I didn’t know about the injuries he had endured as a confessor during the Diocletian persecutions, and how those injuries would have affected him the rest of his life. I included those details in my version of the story, which is included in “That God’s Works Might Be Revealed” (published by Park End Press in April 2025).
More stories from the life of St. Nicholas
Here are links to my telling of more of the stories from the life of St. Nicholas:
- A dowry for the widower’s daughters
- The unwilling bishop of Myra
- St. Nicholas and Arius at the Council of Nicea
- St. Nicholas takes the executioner’s sword
- St. Nicholas, patron of sailors
- St. Nicholas, deliverer from famine
Read More
Looking for the real St. Nicholas: When you see old men in red robes with white beards, how do you know if they’re intended to be Santa Claus or St. Nicholas? Check out the symbols and tropes in this post, and you’ll (almost) always be able to tell.
Book activities with The Saint Nicholas Day Snow: Extend the book with cooking, crafts, academic activities, and Advent devotions.
Three boys in a pickling tub: At one time, this was the best known and most often told story about St. Nicholas.
Buy the Book: The Saint Nicholas Day Snow
Shoes or stockings? Horse or sleigh? Does St. Nicholas visit on December 6 or on Christmas Eve? Will a little girl’s prayer be answered? When Elizabeth has to stay at Catherine’s house, she’s worried about her grandmother, and worried that St. Nicholas won’t find her. The grownups, though, are worried about snow.
Celebrate the wonder of St. Nicholas Day through the magic of a book: The Saint Nicholas Day Snow. Available on Amazon, Bookshop.org, or my webstore.
