Second Sunday of Advent; Who was St. Nick?

On this the second Sunday of Advent I wanted to write about Saint Nicholas. Yesterday Saturday December 6Th was his feast day. Who was St. Nick, St. Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra in the 4Th century. He is the patron saint of sailors, children, pawnbrokers, accused, prostitutes, and repentant thieves. He is credited to saving sailors who where in danger by appearing to them and showing their ship to safety, this is a legend. It also legend that he gave his inheritance away in works of charity.

One story is of how he saved three daughters of a man from being sold into slavery. The man was unable to marry off his daughters due to his poverty after his business failed. St. Nicholas tossed a bag of gold into the window of the man's house one night, this dowry allowed the eldest daughter to be married. This occurred two more times for the other daughters, the gold allowed the girls to be married saving them from slavery. In one version of the story the third bag of gold is dropped down the chimney. These type of stories lend themselves to modern stories of Santa Claus.