December 6, 2024, Memorial of St. Nicholas of Myra, Holy Rosary (Sorrowful Mysteries)

Friends of the Rosary,

Today, December 6, the Church celebrates the memorial of St. Nicholas of Myra (d. 346), also known as Santa Claus, one of the most popular saints in the Western world and considered the patron saint of children.

St. Nicholas was a 4th-century bishop born in Lycia in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). He was known for his mercy and charity toward the poor and disadvantaged and for tirelessly defending the faith.

In the U.S., the story of St. Nicholas was brought as Santa Claus by Dutch Protestants in a distorted fashion, as a magician and wonder-worker.

Our present-day conception of the saint has grown from this version. He is portrayed as a jolly, rotund, white-bearded man from the North Pole who brings happiness to small children with promises of gifts on Christmas Eve.

We Catholics should think of Nicholas as a saint, a confessor of the faith, and the bishop of Myra.

(Today’s Rosary is prayed from Manhattan.)

Ave Maria!
Jesus, I Trust In You!
St. Nicholas, Pray for Us!

Come, Holy Spirit, come!

To Jesus through Mary!

+ Mikel Amigot | RosaryNetwork.com, New York

• ⁠December 6, 2024, Today’s Rosary on YouTube | Daily broadcast at 7:30 pm ET