A biography of a beloved saint. The Life of St. Nicholas of Myra
St. Nicholas of Myra, like many other saints from ancient times, has a biography drawn from very limited sources. His life cannot be a biography in the modern sense, but the story of a few facts from his life deduced from scattered sources. It would seem surprising given that lengthy tomes were written about St. Nicholas. In reality, the vast majority of his written lives, especially those written after year 1000, have enriched the history of the saint’s life by including all the acts of another Nicholas, a monk from the same region who lived 200 years after the bishop from Myra. Professor Gerardo Cioffari’s study shows, based on critical analysis of the sources, the events in the life of St. Nicholas that can shape the minimum of a historical biography. Without eliminating the spiritual element of the saint’s life, the study presents the birthplace, as well as the merciful deeds and pastoral zeal of the bishop of Mira. The study also reveals the event, little known to the local academic environment, of moving the saint’s relics from Myra (Asia) to Bari (Italy) in spring 1087.
GERARDO CIOFFARI
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