Saint Nicholas, Patron Saint of Children and Thieves

Harry T. Cook

By Harry T. Cook

12/6/13

Nicholas of Myra was a 4th-century CE bishop whose diocese was part of today's Turkey. In addition to being the patron saint of children and, yes, thieves, Nicholas also held the portfolios of sailors, merchants, archers, pawnbrokers and students. At least that's the official hagiography.

Considering current events in the United States, it makes perfect sense that Nicholas serves as patron to both children and thieves. A particular clutch of thieves otherwise known as congressional Republicans want to make deep cuts in the food stamp program, knowing full well that such reductions would take food and milk out of the mouths of already hungry and malnourished children.

No matter, the politicos say. The plan is to redirect some of the $40 billion in food stamp dollars over the next decade to further enrich a small class of billionaires to whom farm subsidies are paid.

December 6 -- the date of this posting -- is observed across Christendom as the Feast of St. Nicholas. Those who pray to saints might petition Nicholas to shame the thieves into knocking it off. Billionaires invested in mega-farms, who wouldn't know a plow blade from a banana peel, ought to be ashamed of themselves under the circumstances.

The circumstances are these: About 35 million Americans who have been on the food stamp program since the 2007 economic collapse barely get by with gross household incomes well below the poverty level. Even with food stamps, they have trouble feeding themselves and their families. Now they will be asked to do so with even less -- all in the name of raw capitalism. It's enough to rouse the ghosts of Marx and Lenin or, perhaps better, that of Lyndon Johnson with another War on Poverty.

What can change this Dickensian picture? Maybe a midnight visit to Congress from St. Nicholas after the manner of Clement Clarke Moore:

'Twas just weeks before Christmas, and all through the House

Not a motion was pending except one to grouse

'Bout lazy poor people and their bootstrapless habits,

Annoying the class of self-satisfied Babbitts.

The children were restless and hungry in bed,

Wanting and wishing that they had been fed.

While Mama in sadness rolled over in bed

And tried hard not to think of her kids being dead.

When all of a sudden there came a great sound --

A considerable presence had come down on the ground.

'Twas a magnificent sight of benevolence crowned

With a signet of hope and a promise renowned --

That today's high and mighty would be forced from their seat

So the children of poverty could sit down to eat

And fill all their tummies with treat after treat

And savor the taste of potatoes and meat.

St. Nicholas speaks for all of creation

Especially for children of ev-ery nation

Saying, "Take from the rich in the redress of privation

And call a halt to wanton starvation."

Hear him, ye purblind husks of humanity,

Enough with your pointless political vanity.

For the sake of the poor kids recover your sanity

And tune out the likes of Mister Sean Hannity.

What a Friend They Had in Jesus: The Theological Visions of Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Hymn Writers

Have you ever found yourself humming a favorite childhood hymn, only to realize you could no longer embrace its message? Harry Cook explores how hymns reflect the religious beliefs of their times. He revisits the texts of popular hymns, posing such questions as: How true are they to the biblical texts that seem to have inspired them? What aspects of nineteenth- and twentieth-century piety have persisted into the twenty-first century through the singing of those hymns? And, how does one manage the conflict between the emotional appeal and the theological content of such hymns?

Available at:

Polebridge Press

Amazon.com

* * * * *

What reviewers said:

"Important and heart-warming ... Cook's keen insights into the most familiar of old-time gospel hymns ... help you do theology like a grownup."
--Robin Meyers, author of Saving Jesus from the Church

"A compelling look at centuries of Christian theology and practice, at how particular hymns have shaped American faith and religious thought."
--Richard Webster, Director of Music and Organist at Trinity Church, Boston

"A call to integrity in worship ... This exciting, penetrating and provocative study explores the theology we sing, which re-enforces the dated and pre-modern theology from which the Christian faith seeks to escape."
--John Shelby Spong, author of Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World

Readers Write

Essay 11/29/13: Thank You, Mr. U.:

Diane Tumidajewicz, St. Clair Shores, MI:
Thank you for Mr. Bennison's guest essay beautifully written, sensitive, and thought-provoking. We all need to be aware of those who've enriched our lives, thank them, and pay it forward. I'm very thankful for you, Harry Cook, and all the knowledge and wisdom you share each week with so many people.

Tracey Martin, Southfield, MI:

Sometimes receiving can be better than giving. Thanx for what is received can constitute appreciation for something of incidental value. But, to the giver, it can, from someone of stature, bestow an esteem of inestimable recognition. So who's the giver and who's the receiver?

Michael Howard, Palm Springs, CA:

Nicely written story from John Bennison. Being thankful is one of the most enjoyable cognitive and emotional experiences. Perhaps that is why the central act of worship in sacramental Christian faith is the Eucharist, a thanksgiving. Though you probably loathe my object, I say a small litany of thanks every morning to our heavenly Father for all my blessings, starting with a roof over my head and a bed to sleep in. Bennison's point of thanking people is well taken. It is rewarding to both the giver and receiver. Thank you, Harry, for your ministry of social and political observation and comment, may it so continue.

Sylvia Rubach, Livonia, MI:

John Bennison's essay puts me in mind of professor Woodburn Ross at Wayne State University. He had just handed back the first paper that I had written for his English 101 class. He had given me a C! Of all the unmitigated gall! I had never been given a C in my short academic life. I demanded a conference with him. When I arrived, he asked how he could be of help. "Professor Ross, about this paper that I have just written. Are there grammatical errors?" "No," he answered. "An error in spelling or punctuation?" "No," was his answer." Then why the C? "Because," he paused, "you didn't say anything." Before the semester was over, I learned how to say something regardless of spelling, grammar or punctuation. And there were no more C's.

Donalyn Hill, Annapolis, MD:

My older brother was one of the first graduates of the Cranbrook School where Mr. Bennison went. His essay brought back wonderful memories of my brother's graduation that was held in a nearby Episcopal Church.

Fred Fenton, Concord, CA:

Bennison reminds us to look further back over the years to identify and thank as we are able those who may have helped us along life's way without receiving our thanks at the time. One of my early instructor's rebuke stands out and was the cause of increased academic effort on my part. Dudley Fitts was instructor in English at Andover. Few other schools would prize a wonderfully eccentric "imbiber" like Fitts and give us the pleasure of sitting at his feet. When I failed to interpret correctly a line in one of Bacon's essays, he snapped, "Fenton, if you don't do better than that you won't even get into the Colorado School of Mines!" As an Easterner, he imagined that as the ultimate putdown. Years later that I learned the Colorado School of Mines is a top-ranked engineering school.

Fr. Tom Jackson, Tyler, TX:

John Bennison: Thank you for your good and true words regarding gratitude ... and your former teacher, Robert Usellis. Your memory of him was akin to some I cherish from my own education -- and it churned me up, too, because of my own days at Cranbrook. I was a student for three years in the early 1950s [grades 7-9], having been skipped two grades into it from public school. Either because I was younger than classmates there and/or because of that early experience in what seemed like the 1% and overly conspicuous wealth, I grew to dislike it intensely [I won't go into the daily bullying by one of the Romney boys!], and I later moved on to another prep school, where there was a refreshing sense of mutual respect for which I offer more gratitude. Because I am a crazy Virgo, I couldn't help myself but to do some searching for Robert Usellis [actually W. Robert, as I found], and I'm sure you've found all the same stuff...but it seems that he died at age 86 [12/23/1924-8/15/2011] in Huntington Beach, CA, and was mentioned in the Athenian School history. Finally, two things: Your words also reminded me -- after years of preaching about character and gratitude -- to always look again at my own history of those important words, to see what postcards I might still need to send! I have continually appreciated the comments that you send back to Harry about his wonderful essays.

Blayney Colmore, La Jolla, CA:
Thank you, John Bennison, for reawakening the moment in my life that I have long marked as the dividing point between the perdition for which I was surely headed and the wide open richness for which I am unspeakably grateful. A history master at my boarding school refused to let me settle for the substandard work I had decided was my lot, even defended me from the certain expulsion I would have received and deserved had any other faculty member discovered me returning from a weekend release, a quite drunk 16-year-old. The year was 1956 and I watched the election returns in his apartment, my first experience with devout Democrats, who admired Adlai Stevenson, and bemoaned his second defeat by Eisenhower, whom my family regarded as the second coming. Changed the course of my life forever. That master, William Schenck, who died a few years ago, gave his life to St. George's, a small school in Middletown, RI, and to more than a few wayward boys, took a flier on me and changed the course of my life.

Louise Hartung, Rochester, MI:

[An Open Letter to John Bennison] Reading your essay today about thanks owed and how/why you did it, affected me deeply. I concur with you in the importance of expressing thanks, of being so glad to express thanks, and for feeling regret on not expressing it. Today old family friends of my generation visited us, meaning my mother, husband, and me, the three of whom live together. My friends' parents were old friends of my parents, and we kids grew up together. Their parents and my father have since died, being older than my mother, who is 95. I told my friends how thankful I was that their parents and my father were friends, because through their folks my parents met each other. And how thankful I was that their family lived on a farm for some of my most formative growing-up years, fueling my dream for living on a farm and having a horse, which we now do. And how thankful I was that they had unwittingly been the first to let me know that I have a half-brother, because he is now part of my life. And how I had long hoped to emulate their family in that their three generations lived together, as my mother, husband, and I do now. Today was a beautiful early winter day, with sun streaming into the family room where I gave my thanks, we all being warmed by a toasty fire in the fireplace. Such a coincidence to read your essay later in the day, finding someone else who has experienced the giving of thanks to another who had an important impact on his life. Your story will strengthen my efforts to remember to thank those who deserve hearing it from me as a small giving-back to them for what they gave me. So -- thank you for your essay!

Sincerely, Louise Hartung -- one of the many "disciples" of Harry Cook to whom I also owe thanks and the one who presided at my marriage.

What do you think?

I'd like to hear from you. E-mail your comments to me at revharrytcook@aol.com.

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