We haven’t even passed Halloween and Santa Claus is in the news already.

All should be forgiven, however, as this doesn’t have much to do with Christmas, but rather the final resting place of the man known as St Nicholas.

According to Gizmodo, archeologists have announced that they have “uncovered what they believe to be the tomb of one St Nicholas in Turkey” – and get this, his remains might even still be there:

The saint is believed to have been buried at the church before it was damaged in an earthquake. According to one account, Italian merchants stole his bones from a damaged sarcophagus during the first crusade in 1087 and brought them home where they’ve been stored at the Basilica of Saint Nicholas in Bari, Italy ever since.

Each year, on December 6th, the clergy collects a clear liquid that seeps from the tomb that is believed to have miraculous powers. Some believe that the liquid is seeping in from outside the tomb, which is below sea level. But if people really are collecting some nasty liquid from a dead guy’s bones, it might be the wrong dead guy.

Weird – here’s the tomb:

And this is the church the tomb is in:

If St Nicholas doesn’t ring any bells, here’s a short history about the man, from Arthuriana:

Although St Nicholas is usually acknowledged as the ‘original Santa Claus’, we actually know vanishingly little about him for certain; indeed, his very existence has sometimes been called into question, due to the lack of secure references to him in contemporary sources. All that can be said with any degree of confidence is that St Nicholas probably lived in the fourth-century in the Lycian port of Myra, in the south-west of modern Turkey, and that he was a bishop. In addition, it is likely that he died on the 6 December, which was celebrated as his feast day in the medieval church calendar; later accounts also add that St Nicholas attended the Council of Nicaea and was vocal in opposing the Arian heresy, which isn’t impossible.

But what does this mean?

Well, the saddest of truths, actually; that the reindeer-driving bearded man who brings joy to children on Christmas must indeed have been mortal.

Cue heartbreaks and sad faces.

[source:gizmodo]