The

Mary Michael Machabee

Institute

Newsletter

December 29th, 2023

Merry Christmas to everyone! Christus est natus! In the lead up to Christmas, we released the shorter cuts of the first chapter of Dom Gueranger's practically unknown essay on The Christian Sense of History. Be sure to check those out, as well as our other 5-minute videos releasing every day over at SpiritusTV.

We finish this secular year of 2023 with a continuation on Thor.  We saw images of Thor who, after a little transmutation (evolution?) to please modern man’s refined sensibilities, was still in need of warm and fuzzy stories for the merriment of children.  Below with his two goats is Thor, who was shown in our last newsletter to be none other than the newly portrayed (in the last 250 years) Santa Claus.

Here is a reminder for the vast majority of us who were raised with Santa Claus as a part of our Catholic Nativity celebrations. Obviously, Santa Claus is not necessarily going to be the death of the spark of Faith for your children (or you).

But like any idol the Santa Claus we know of today can inordinately occupy a portion of the thoughts, affections, and memories that rightly belong to the Christ Child. How many “Christmas Songs” written by those who deny the divinity of the Man-God have taken a portion of our affections, feelings, and heart, leaving less for the reality of Christ’s humiliation in coming to earth to a cave in the “house of bread” – Bethlehem.

This can be seen in the fact that plenty of Christ’s deniers are perfectly content with all the merriment that comes with Santa Claus. Some even are desirous to keep the “merry” of the great Mr. Claus while dumping the “myth” of Christ. This five-story billboard is nothing new, but it simply demonstrates that, for many, keeping Santa in Christmas is perfectly fine, but keeping Christ in Christmas is worth money and time to overcome.

But combating idols is a life-long struggle for the majority of those practicing the Faith. A goal one could aim for would simply be to decrease the Santa Claus decorations, pictures, statues, candle holders, etc. a little each year until there are only a few Santa idols left. That may be the most many of us are willing to give up (already quite a feat), as this idol is not the most malignant of those offered to our senses.  Furthermore, how many keep a diminished version of affection to Santa Claus, and, despite this, shine in other areas of self-denial and true joy for the infant in Bethlehem?

But maybe some want to venture where only the “rigid” Catholic will walk. With greater charity for Christ and His reign in our souls and families, one is willing to eradicate more and more.  Therefore, patience is needed in dropping those obstacles over time. To that end, learning about the real St. Nicholas is a great way to marginalize the affection for Santa.

For our first example, we turn to the great liturgical defender of the 19th century, Dom Gueranger, who writes the following:

“But none of the Sequences of St. Nicholas were so popular as the one we now give. It is to be found in a great many Processionals up to the 17th century, and on its model were composed innumerable others...”

Sequence

Reading this sequence of the Church, is there even a shadow or hint of anything resembling Santa Claus? How many of us were taught of the imitation of Christ that Nicholas followed in multiplying food? How many are taught that this bishop is also the patron of sailors and why? During what visit down the chimney did this bishop of Greece raise a corpse from the dead?

A second example is found amongst the many miraculous feats of will Nicholas performed, bending the known physical laws.  Among the examples of saving numerous lives, three come to mind.  One is well-depicted in this late 19th century painting.  Nicholas, known for fasting every Wednesday and Friday even from his infancy, is a much different figure physically than many of us grew to know.   He is seen here doing something slightly more charitable than delivering gifts on 34th street. These three criminals, delivered from certain death, have much gratitude for the gift of this Catholic bishop.

Lastly, instantaneous physical cures are one of the ways God wins souls over to a life dedicated to Christ.  What of the miraculous oil of St. Nicholas? How many missed this gift of the Church through Her servant? In the 1833 edition of Butler’s Lives of the Saints, we read about the translation of the relics of St. Nicholas in early May of 1087 to Bari, Italy, where:

“On the first day, 30 persons were cured of various distempers, imploring the intercession of Saint Nicholas, and from that time the tomb of saint Nicholas of Bari has been famous for pilgrimages.”

Instead of the question of how Santa can deliver gifts to all the children of the world, the child may move his gaze elsewhere. The sharing of this story of the unwrapping of this gift of the saint’s relics to residents of Italy, where dozens of cures occurred in one day, delivers to the intellect of a child a wonder for the supernatural movement in God’s servants. And how many of us, young children in search of the ways of God and old children in need of confirmation of those once-learned ways, need the gift of additional supernatural wonder of God?