ST NICHOLAS FEAST DAY & PRISONERS

Dear Manuel, amigo, camerado, In the Eastern Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches, the Feast of Saint Nicholas is a big day. One of the parishioners dresses up as Nicholas would have appeared, in a Bishop’s hat and long beard, and passes out candy and fruit to the children. We know that Nicholas was, indeed, a holy man famed for miracles and kindness, and that he was chosen as bishop for his home town of Myra, near the sea, in what is now Turkey. We also know that under the brutal persecution by the Emperor Diocletian he was tortured and imprisoned for his adherence to the faith. When Diocletian died and Constantine became Emperor, one of Nicholas’s famous miracles was appearing in a dream to Constantine and pleading for three prisoners condemned to die. The next day, Constantine freed the three prisoners and sent them to Bishop Nicholas with a request that Nicholas pray for the peace of the world. More churches have been dedicated to Saint Nicholas than any other saint, four hundred of them in England alone. He is the patron saint of prisoners and captives and many miracle of his intervention on their behalf have been recorded. Saint Nicholas, I ask you to come to the aid of Manuel, a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, and bring him peace of heart and mind. St. Nicholas, pray for Manuel and for all prisoners on death row in America! Manuel, again, I don’t know if this has time to reach you, but again, please know that many are praying for you. In Christ Our Savior, Ken