He has been around for more than 1,700 years. A timeline:
circa 280 A.D.
Nicholas is born in Patara, Lycia — part of modern day Turkey. Like others of the Emperor Constantine generation, he enters a life of religious servitude. He works his way up from abbot to the archbishop of Myra — a nearby town — and gets his first nickname: Nicholas of Myra.
325 A.D.
Nicholas attends the First Council of Nicaea and helps create the Nicene Creed, which millions upon millions of Sunday School children will later memorize.
330 A.D.
When a father doesn't have enough money for his three daughters' dowries, dooming them, apparently, to forced prostitution, Nicholas leaves three bags of gold outside the girls' home (or, according to a different version of the story, in their shoes) to keep them sustained. This is one of the few stories based on some sort of historical record and it explains Nicholas' reputation as a gift-giver.
320-340 A.D.
Nicholas becomes famous for performing great miracles. Once he saves a ship from a terrible storm by calming the waves. Another time, he flies through the air to return a kidnapped boy. And most impressive of all, he discovers a triple homicide and brings the victims — three children who had been chopped into bits and stored in pickle jars — back to life.
Dec. 6, 343 A.D.
Nicholas dies and is buried in Myra.
6th Century A.D.
Nicholas becomes a saint. The Catholic Church had not yet regulated its canonization procedure so it's hard to tell exactly when he is sainted. Nicholas is a very popular saint, especially in Europe. He becomes the patron of more objects and places than any other saint (except maybe Mary), although his primary role is as a guardian of children.
1087
Some Italian sailors steal Nicholas' remains and transfer them to Bari, Italy. His tomb becomes a major pilgrimage site.
The next several hundred years
St. Nicholas's "name day," Dec. 6, coincides with the end of harvest and slaughter season in many European countries and becomes a favorite holiday to observe, especially in Holland, where he is known as "Sinterklaas." Kids leave their shoes out in the hopes that he will bring them a present. Nicholas has perfected his ability to tell naughty from nice by this time: Good children get a toy or candy; bad children receive a switch (with which they can be beaten).
16th & 17th centuries
Puritanism sweeps England and America. Saints fall out of favor. Many countries stop observing St. Nicholas Day — excepting Holland. The Dutch are really into shoe gifts.
1659-1681
No-fun Puritans fire the first volley in the war on Christmas, making the holiday illegal in Massachusetts.
1809
New York Historical Society founder John Pintard declares St. Nicholas to be the patron saint of New York City. To back up his friend's claim, Historical Society member Washington Irving publishes a History of New York, which includes a story about Nicholas — something about the Dutch and "New Amsterdam" and the fact that they're still leaving gifts in children's shoes.
1810
No one really celebrates Saint Nicholas Day in New York, but they do celebrate Christmas. The New York Historical Society publishes a broadside that features a picture of the newly declared patron saint delivering gifts to children during the Christmas season. Nicholas still looks like a saint — he wears a priestly robe and has a halo around his bald head.
1821
Nicholas delivers presents on Christmas Eve for the very first time. An anonymous poem calls him "Santeclaus" and describes a sleigh pulled by one reindeer.
1822
Clement Clark Moore writes a poem for his children, beginning with the iconic lines, "'Twas the night before Christmas." Within one reading, Nicholas shortens his name to Nick, gains weight, starts smoking and adopts seven more reindeer (probably to pull his excess weight). He embarks on his first breaking-and-entering spree.
1841
The nickname "Santa Claus" has been growing in popularity, so St. Nick adopts it when he greets thousands of children at a Philadelphia department store. He also appears in newspaper advertisements around this time, urging people to buy Christmas presents.
1863
Well-known Harper's Weekly cartoonist Thomas Nast — who also popularized the Uncle Sam image — draws a red-coated, white-bearded Santa Claus for the very first time. Later Nast drawings will reveal Santa's workshop and home at the North Pole.
1889
Santa Claus gets married.
1897
New York Sun editor Francis Church answers a young reader's letter with the phrase, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."
1931
Artist Haddon Sundblom draws a round-faced, red-nosed Santa Claus for a Coca Cola ad.
1939
Santa adopts Rudolph — the creation of a Montgomery Ward store employee
1947
Santa Claus performs miracles on 34th Street
1969
The Catholic Church overhauls its liturgical calendar by de-sainting over 200 people and making the celebration of 92 others, including St. Nicholas, optional.
1995
Santa Claus gets his own website.
For all the dates, click here
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