Today is St Nicholas Day which commemorates his death on December 6 in 343 AD.  Nicholas’ origins are unfamiliar to many and in some ways he has morphed into Santa Claus.  He lived in present southwest Turkey and after being orphaned as a child he used his inheritance to help the poor and sick. He became the Bishop of Myra and was very popular especially helping the disadvantaged with one story stating that he helped a father who had insufficient money for dowries meaning that his three daughters could not marry and would become prostitutes..  One night he secretly left some gold coins – some legends say he put them in their shoes which were by the door and other legends say they were put in their stockings which were hanging up to dry by the fire.  This led to the modern tradition of gifts being left by Santa Claus.  In the Netherlands on 5th December Dutch children leave their shoes out to be filled by “Sinterklaas” who is depicted as a tall man in a long red clerical robe with a bishop’s hat.  The modern image of Santa Claus resulted from a picture by Thomas Nast in 1863 with a red coat and subsequently the red bishop’s cloak is now of a jolly fat man wearing a red.suit with fur and usually visits on December 25th in many countries. 
St Nicholas is the patron saint of Greece and Russia and many towns as well as children, sailors and other groups.  In recognition for his kindness and compassion there are more churches named after him than any other apart from St Mary.