Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra: The Life and Times of the Original Father Christmas

by D.L. Cann

Book by Cann, D. L.

216 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2002

Reviews

[Anson Cassel Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trustworthy information about the historical Saint Nicholas, bishop of Myra, is so limited that there is an outside chance that he never existed at all. D. L. Cann makes the best of this unpromising situation by effectively turning a “life and times” into a “times.” Cann makes reasonable guesses about how life might have been lived in southwestern Anatolia at the end of the Roman Empire, and he well summarizes Christian accounts of the Great Persecution of Diocletian and the period of toleration under Constantine. Cann writes well enough, and even passages a bit too florid are not offensively overblown. The volume includes a chapter about Saint Nicholas in the Christmas tradition, the Latin and a free translation of an 11th-century song about the saint, and texts (perhaps late 8th century) of the five earliest surviving Nicholas legends.

[Greg Bittner · Rating 3 out of 5]

You've seen the movie, now read the book. Seriously, this was a fascinating research project by an author with a real love for archaeology and the legends of Saint Nicholas. His perspective seems to be not a theologian's as much as a historian's, thus some of the religious critiques. If you didn't know St. Nicholas was a real person, this is a great opportunity to learn about his compassion for the poor and zeal for truth. (Yes, he did slap a heretic.) Sadly, today's political climate in the middle east would probably not permit some of the research D.L. Cann was able to do, making his findings recorded here more valuable. I recommend reading this book as a preface to the Advent season and St. Nicholas Day (December 6).

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author misunderstand history and Christianity on fundamental levels (thinking Arianism wasn't all that bad for example). The world needs a really good Catholic biography of St. Nicholas.