Miscommunication in art

SAINT Nicholas of Bari, a fourth-century Bishop of Myra, is supposed to have saved three young girls from prostitution or becoming spinsters by paying for their dowry. He bought their future with three bags of gold, and is thus depicted in art as holding three bags or three golden balls. But then the message sometimes gets garbled in transmission. These three bags were mistaken for three small heads, resulting in a new legend. According to another story, Saint Nicholas is supposed to have discovered a wicked innkeeper who had murdered three children and stored the corpses in brine. This was probably the urban legend of the fourth century, and one wouldn't be surprised if it is embellished to have the enterprising innkeeper passing off the cured meat as "pindang damulag" to innocent and hungry travelers. Saint Nicholas touched the children in a brine tub and brought them back to life. Thus, Nicholas of Bari has since become the Patron of Children.

The above miscommunication in art is common. Another example is about Saint Agatha, virgin and martyr. Like most martyrs, she was tortured - beaten up, whipped, etc. -- all this was common. What set her apart was that her breasts were cut off. Of course, she was miraculously cured, but due to the variety of torture she endured for her faith she eventually died in prison. Such are the gory details one finds while reading the lives of the saints. In art, Saint Agatha is depicted carrying her severed breasts on a platter and is invoked against breast diseases. Over time these luscious pieces of flesh served on a plate were mistaken (perhaps intentionally by the pious and prude) for loaves of bread or bells; thus, Saint Agatha, virgin and martyr, also is the patron of bakers and bell-makers. Special loaves of bread (what shape?) are sometimes blessed on her feast, February 5, and distributed to the faithful; we shall see the same practice for Saint Nicholas of Tolentino in the Philippines.

Contrary to popular belief, Saint Nicholas, the original Santa Claus, is not Nicholas of Tolentino but Nicholas of Bari. As the patron of children there was a practice in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands to give presents to children in his name at Christmas. The custom crossed the Atlantic into the United States brought by Dutch Protestants (not Catholics) to New Amsterdam (later called New York), where the name of Saint Nicholas became Sint Klaes or Sant Klaas into later Santa Claus. So the fourth-century, miracle-working Bishop of Bari lost his church robes in the 19th century and transformed into the fat, bearded man in a red suit and cap, who travels in a flying sled pulled by reindeer. Even his residence moved to the North Pole.

San Nicolas de Tolentino (1245-1305), venerated in many places in the Philippines, administered by Augustinians and Recollects, celebrates his feast annually on September 10. The story is that his middle-aged parents went on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Nicolas of Bari and was blessed with a son they naturally named Nicholas. The saint became an Augustinian and spent time in a place called Tolentino, hence Nicolas de Tolentino. He was famous as a preacher and a miracle worker.

In his old age, San Nicolas continued to fast and abstain from meat even if he was ill. He was advised to eat a bit more or perhaps to take some meat, but the saint felt this was giving in to the whims of his body and refused. It is said that the Virgin Mary appeared to him in a vision and told him to take some bread dipped in water so he would regain his health. He obeyed and got well, so he started blessing bread and advised sick people to eat this dipped in water thus, originated the custom of blessing Saint Nicholas' bread on his feast and distributing this to the sick. In the Philippines, more specifically in the province of Pampanga and adjoining areas, the bread is an arrowroot cookie, brown or golden, it comes round or leaf-shaped and has the image of the saint embossed on it.

The Pan de San Nicolas, or Panecillos de San Nicolas, or plain Saniculas, shows the saint wearing his Augustinian habit holding a plate with a bird. The legend is that during one illness the saint continued to fast and abstain from meat so he was advised to lay off his mortification till he recovered his strength. Naturally, he refused so his superior invoked his vow of obedience and ordered the saint to eat some meat. He was then served a roast partridge better known in the Philippines through that repetitious Christmas song "Partridge in a pear tree." This little bird is more popularly known under its Filipino name "pugo" [quail]. So the roasted bird was brought to the saint who touched it and brought it back to life.

So the bird flew away to be captured and eaten another day but the saint has since been depicted in art and in these cookies holding a bird on a plate.

How the two saints named Nicolas got confused with Santa Claus is a long and confusing story made clear by art. It is unfortunate that so much art, legend, literature and custom are lost to those who do not know or recognize the symbols in Catholic iconography. Our churches are full of plaster saints so modern and sweet they would give you diabetes just gazing upon them. Older churches reveal much more for those who take time to find meaning in Catholic symbols.

Comments are welcome at aocampo@ateneo.edu