Dec. 22, 2025

Terrifying & True | Santa’s Stolen Bones: The Medieval Relic Heist of St. Nicholas

Terrifying & True | Santa’s Stolen Bones: The Medieval Relic Heist of St. Nicholas
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Terrifying & True

Dive into Christmas true crime, Santa Claus history, and holiday folklore with the real medieval relic heist that helped shape the legend of Santa. In 1087, sailors from Bari, Italy break into the tomb of St. Nicholas in Myra (modern Turkey)—and the world’s most famous Christmas icon gets a disturbingly real origin story.

Inside the candlelit crypt, witnesses claim the tomb is flooded with mysterious liquid—the “manna” of St. Nicholas—and the thieves interpret it as a sign the saint approves. But back on shore, the people of Myra collapse into grief and fury, pleading for even a single fragment. And when the relics reach Bari, the celebration turns volatile: church power struggles, blood spilled in the saint’s name, and a brand-new basilica built to lock the prize in place.

Then the rivalry escalates. Venice returns to Myra and scoops up what Bari left behind—tiny fragments, crushed pieces, a second claim to the same saint. Centuries later, science steps into the story: anatomical studies, missing bones, and the unsettling realization that Santa’s “origin story” includes grave-robbing, propaganda, and a relic war that rewrote Europe’s holiday traditions.
Inside this episode:

  • The 1087 relic heist: how Bari’s sailors infiltrate Myra and break into the tomb
  • “Furta sacra”: the medieval logic that framed theft as holy rescue
  • The grief of Myra: a town begging for any piece of their protector
  • Bari’s power play: riots, control of the relics, and a basilica built for a stolen saint
  • Bari vs. Venice: the second “collection” of bones and a centuries-long relic rivalry
  • Miracles and manna: the eerie liquid linked to St. Nicholas and why skeptics argue back
  • The Santa connection: how this crime helped carry St. Nicholas into Western Europe’s Christmas tradition
We’re telling that story tonight.

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👨‍💼 Executive Producers: Rob Fields, Bobbletopia.com
🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
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WEBVTT

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The tomb is sealed, the city is asleep, and beneath

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a church floor in Myra, a saint's bones are floating

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in holy liquid. Sixty men from Bari come as pilgrims,

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they leave as thieves. By sunrise, a town is screaming

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at the sea, and Santa Claus is already disappearing over

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the horizon. What you were about to teat is believed

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to be based on witness accounts, testimonies, and public record.

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This is terrifying and treat treat. In the Middle Ages,

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faith had a price, and sometimes the price was paid

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not in blood but in bone. Tonight's story begins in

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a coastal church in Myra, modern day Turkey, where the

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body of a beloved saint lay undisturbed for centuries. Saint Nicholas,

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Protector of children, patron, Saint of sailors, and through a

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long chain of legend, one of the roots of Santa

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Claus himself. But in the year ten eighty seven AD,

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a band of men from Bari arrived with a plan

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that would shock the Christian world. They would open the tomb,

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they would take what was inside, and they would call

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it salvation. What followed was a trail of grief, rivalry,

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and miracles that seeped from stone, and ancient liquid still

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collected to this very day. It's a story of devotion

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and deception and a question that refuses to die. Did

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they steal a saint or did the saint choose to

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be stolen? We're telling that story tonight. In a dim

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crypt beneath a basilica in coastal Italy, a marble tomb

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sweats mysterious drops of liquid. Each spring. On May ninth,

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a priest stoops with a vile to collect this clear manna,

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as they call it, weeping from the stone, a substance

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believers call holy and healing. It is a ritual both

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festive and eerie, a yearly gift from the grave of

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Saint Nicholas of Myra, better known to the world as

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the model for the jolly Santa Claus. Far above, in

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the sunlit streets of Bari, Italy, locals parade a statue

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of the saint from the harbor to his basilika, commemorating

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the day his relics arrived in the city. Choirs sing

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and church bell's peal. Yet this joyful celebration marks one

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of history's most audacious grave robberies. Over nine centuries ago.

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The bones now oozing miracle water in Barri were stolen

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from Nicholas's grave in what one scholar bluntly calls a

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holy robbery, a caper fueled by faith, desperation, and medieval opportunism.

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This is the uncanny true story of how the relics

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of a fourth century bishop, patron of children, sailors and

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the poor were plundered and fought over. It's the story

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of how they came to exude a mystical liquid, and

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how the legend of Saint Nicholas grew and evolved into

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the cheerful myth of Santa Claus. It's a tale of

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miracles and mayhem, with an atmosphere at once festive but

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also Prepare to journey to the late eleventh century, when

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Italian sailors conspired to steal Santa's bones and set into

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motion a saga of sacred thefts, rival cities, and a

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Christmas spirit born from the most macabre of true crimes.

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Saint Nicholas had been dead for nearly seven hundred and

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forty four years by the spring of ten eighty seven AD.

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In life, he was the Bishop of Myra, a Greek

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speaking city in Asia Minor modern day Demra, Turkey. Little

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can be confirmed about Nicholas's biography, but legend paints him

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as a man of extraordinary generosity and piety. Born in

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the third century to a wealthy family, he allegedly gave

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away his inheritance to help the needy, including a famous

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story in which he secretly saved three destitute young sisters

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from being sold into slavery by tossing bags of gold

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through their window at night, providing dowries so they could marry.

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His kindness and reputed miracles from calming storms at sea

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to resurrecting murdered children, according to medieval lore, made Nicholas

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so beloved that he was honored as a saint. Soon

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after his death on December sixth, three forty three AD.

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His tomb in Myra became a pilgrimage site, and by

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the Middle Ages, Nicholas was one of the most revered

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saints in Christendom. Devotees believed his remains themselves held power.

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From at least the sixth century. Pilgrims in Myra claimed

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that Nicholas's bones secreted a sweet smelling liquid, a miraculous substance.

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They called myron or manna, which could heal sickness and

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worked wonders for the faithful. The very tomb of Saint

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Nicholas was said to sweat his holy mirr, as if

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the saint's generosity overflowed even in death. By the eleventh century, however,

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Nicholas's homeland had fallen into turmoil. Myra was part of

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the Byzantine Empire during a dire turning point in ten

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seventy one, when invading Seljuk Turks defeated the Byzantines and

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overran much of Asia. Minor Christian shrines across the region

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were suddenly in peril. In nicol case, both genuine piety

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and political self interest put a target on his grave.

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The relics of saints, their bones or other physical remains,

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were the most precious treasures of the medieval church. Cities

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and monasteries vied for such relics, which were believed to

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confer divine favour and often attracted crowds of pilgrims and

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their purses from far and wide. A thriving pilgrimage center

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could transform a town's fortunes entirely, and no saint was

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more popular than Nicholas, whose feast day December sixth and

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charitable reputation were celebrated across Europe. Thus, when news spread

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that Nicholas's tomb in Myra might fall under Infidel control

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or be lost entirely, a frenzy ignited to rescue the

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saint's remains for the Christian West. In truth, this rescue

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often amounted to furta sakra Latin for sacred theft, a

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practice by which churches or cities stole holy relics under

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the justification of faith. Medieval Christians convinced themselves that if

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a saint's bones could be successfully stolen, it must be

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by the saint's own will. As one historian notes, practically

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every Western chronicler of the era recorded the dramatic removal

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of Saint Nicholas's relics in ten eighty seven. It was

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an event of international intrigue, and it began with a

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band of sinealers from the Italian port of Barri scheming

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to outfox their rivals and snatch the prize for themselves.

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Bare in the late ten eighties was a rising power

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on the Adriatic coast. Only a decade earlier, in ten

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seventy one. The very year Myra was overrun. Barri had

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been the last Byzantine foothold in southern Italy. It fell

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to the Norman lords who now ruled the region. The

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cities new Latin Christian elite were eager to put Bari

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on the map spiritually and economically. They knew that possessing

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the illustrious relics of Saint Nicholas would instantly elevate Barri

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into a major pilgrimage destination, a source of both religious

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prestige and material prosperity. According to later accounts, Venice, Bai's

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maritime rival to the north, had a similar idea. The Venetians,

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famed for acquiring relics they had stolen Saint Mark's body

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from Egypt in the ninth century, hungered to claim Nicholas

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as well. A hidden competition brewed between the two cities

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sailors as to who would reach Myira first and secure

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the saint. In early ten eighty seven, word reached Barri

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that a Venetian expedition was being outfitted to sail for

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Nicholas's tomb. The race was on the men of Bai

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were determined to win by any means necessary. Thus it

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was in the spring of ten eights, three ships set

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sail from Bai, ostensibly on a trading voyage to the

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eastern Mediterranean. These ships carried about sixty two armed men,

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including sailors, merchants, and two priests, acting under the sponsorship

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of Bai's noble families. When they arrived at the coast

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of Lycia in early May, the Bari contingent learned that

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the Venetians were indeed not far behind. Wasting no time,

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the Barians plotted a daring mission ashore at Myra, where

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Nicholas's relics lay buried in the Church of Saint Nicholas.

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This was enemy territory. Myra was under Turkish dominion and

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the shrine was tended by Greek Orthodox monks, so the

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Italians resorted to subterfew huge Disguising themselves as humble pilgrims,

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the men from Bari made their way to the church

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and approached the resident monks, requesting to venerate the tomb

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of Saint Nicholas. The monks, unsuspecting, led the foreigners into

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the crypt and showed them the location of the saints sarcophagus.

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Only then did suspicion begin to flicker. According to one account,

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the monks suddenly demanded of the visitors, quote, why you

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men do you make such a request. You haven't planned

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to carry off the remains of the holy saint from here?

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If that is your purpose, know that you parley with

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unyielding men, even if it mean are death. The bare

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sailors tried to smooth over the accusation with pious words,

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even professing that they had come only to reverence the

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body of Nicholas, But their true intentions could not stay

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hidden for long. Tension thickened in the candle lit gloom

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of the crypt. The monks of Myra soon noticed the

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Italians casting calculating glances at the heavy marble slab covering

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Nicholas's tomb. The atmosphere turned from reverend to menacing. Suddenly,

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one of the Barrians, a tall, hot blooded man named Matthew,

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lost patience and drew his sword. Seizing a monk by

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the robe, he pressed the blade to the clergyman's throat

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and growled out a threat. Show us the exact spot

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of the saint's body, or die aghast. The monk pleaded

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for mercy and insisted that Nicholas's holy tomb lay just

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beneath the floor where they stood. At this the disguise

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of piety was dropped. The heist was on. The Italian

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sailors rushed to bar the church's doors, shoving a heavy

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bolt into place to prevent any townspeople from interrupting. A

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couple of armed men kept guard over the trembling monks.

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Others set to work trying to breach the tomb embedded

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in the floor. They had come prepared for a fight,

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but cracking open a saint's grave was its own challenge

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and its own risk as well. Medieval lore warned that

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stealing relics could invite divine wrath if the saint did

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not approve. Indeed, one chronicler notes the thieves quote were

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not only afraid of being caught, but also of the

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power of Saint Nicholas himself punishing them for their crime.

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No doubt, the men from Bahri felt a mix of

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fear and adrenaline as they pried with iron tools at

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the stone slab. It was Matthew who took the lead.

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Spotting a gap around a rectangular flagstone in the floor

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the top of the vault, he and his companions jammed

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crowbars into the seam and heaved. The stone refused to

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budge at first, sealed by centuries and perhaps by the

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saint's own stubborn will. The group paused, sweating and unsure,

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and even considered giving up when the slab wouldn't yield

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at all. Then one of the priests, from a man

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named Lupus, fumbled and dropped a glass vial of sacred

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oil he had been holding. It shattered on the floor.

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This jarring accident snapped the men from their hesitation. Taking

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it as a sign of urgency, Matthew raised a heavy

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mallet and brought it crashing down on the stone cover

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with all of his strength. At last, the slab had fractured.

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Matthew and the others pried the broken pieces aside and

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peered into the dark space below. There lay a second lid,

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the cover of Nicholas's sarcophagus. They managed to lift it partially,

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only to recoil in awe. A powerful aroma wafted out

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from beneath, like a sudden gust of sweet perfume, filling

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the crypt. The hardened sailors found themselves seeming to stand

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in paradise, overwhelmed by the fragrance within the sarcophagus. By

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flickering torchlight, they could see it was filled with liquid.

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The famous holy manna of Saint Nicholas was literally pooling

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around his bones. The men were stunned. To them this

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was a sure sign of divine favor. The miraculous oil

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that Nicholas's relics produced was now aiding their quest. It

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was as if the Saint himself were saying, come and

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take me. Any lingering doubt or fear of a curse

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evaporated with a shout of triumph. Matthew flung aside caution.

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The chronicler writes that he, unable to restrain the ardor

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of his heart, leapt bodily into the tomb, shoes and

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all splashing into the sacred mirror, up to his knees.

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What Matthew beheld in that flooded sarcophagus must have made

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his breath catch. There, half submerged in clear oil, lay

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the skeletal remains of Saint Nicholas, bones glowing like coals

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of fire, fragrant above all fragrance. For a moment, the

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gruff seaman was transformed into an awe struck pilgrim. He

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gently lifted handfuls of the bones them and caressing them

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in reverence peace by peace, Matthew passed the sacred relics

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up out of the tomb to the waiting priests, Lupus

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and another named Grimaldus. They wrapped the bones carefully in

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a clean cloak. In their haste and wonder The men

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did not manage to grab every last fragment, but they

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took all of the major bones of the skeleton, including

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Nicholas's skull, limb, bones, and spine. The smallest chips and

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some crumbled fragments were left behind in the oily sludge.

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Those would become important later. They also attempted to steal

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a beautiful ancient icon of Saint Nicholas that hung in

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the church, but according to legend, the icon miraculously bolted

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itself in place and refused to be moved. It seemed

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the saint did not wish to leave his former sanctuary

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entirely bereft something of him would remain. Satisfied that they

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had gathered the holy bones, the raiders bundled the relics

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into a wooden chest and secured it shut. All the

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while the gagged and cowed monks looked on in horror

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and despair. Now, as the Bahi sailors shouldered their precious

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loot and prepared to flee, the spell broke, and the

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monks began to wail, Oh, how great and inconsolable an

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affliction has overtaken us, One cried, tearing his robes in anguish.

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In a keening chorus, the clergy of Myra lamented their loss.

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Why are you leaving us, father, orphaned of your protection?

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To whom shall we flee? Who will guard us from

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our enemies? Now? Some even turned their grief toward Nicholas himself, angrily,

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questioning why the saint would abandon them After centuries, you

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have become well disposed to strangers and wayfarers, while to us,

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your servants from youth, you have shown yourself unhearing. You

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have reckoned as nothing the ministrations of our fathers and ourselves.

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As the intruders pressed out of the church with the

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reliquary chest, the monks mourning grew frenzied. They knew their

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beloved patron and protector, the soul of their town, was

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being taken forever. Some monks even prostrated themselves on the floor,

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sobbing that they would rather have died than seen this day?

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Why did you not allow us to be given death

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rather than be separated from you, oh benign father. Outside

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word of the sacrilege spread quickly. By the time the

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sailors of Bai hustled their way down to the harbor,

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a crowd of Myra's townspeople had assembled in panic and fury. Men,

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women and children, a multitude filled with affliction swarmed the wharf,

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wailing and begging for the return of their saint. As

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the Italians began boarding their ship, clutching the chest containing

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Nicholas's bones, the people of Myra made a desperate last stand.

253
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They rushed knee deep into the sea, surrounding the vessels,

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clinging to the oars and rudders in a human blockade.

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Through tears, they cried out, who are you and from

256
00:24:26.279 --> 00:24:30.119
what land that you have dared bring such calamity upon us?

257
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Give us back our patron and champion who protected us

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from our enemies. Visible and not seeing, the thieves unmoved,

259
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the people pleaded for at least a token of what

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they were losing. If we are entirely unworthy, do not

261
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leave us without a share, Give us at least a

262
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small portion of him. It was an astonishing scene, an

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00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:03.359
entire city weeping and grasping at a ship, imploring that

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a fragment of a finger bone or a scrap of

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cloth be left to them, anything from the saint who

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had been the beating heart of their community for seven

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hundred years. But the men of Bari, though perhaps momentarily touched,

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had no intention of relinquishing their prize. Standing on the deck,

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one of the Bari leaders tried to address the crowd.

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He raised his hands and spoke kindly to the devastated myrons.

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We are Christians like you, he insisted, and the Saint

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appeared to us in a vision, bidding us carry his

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remains away. It is God's will, he argued, that Saint

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Nicholas now give light to the western world after so

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many generations protecting the East. The speaker promised that Myra

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would not be entirely forsaken. In place of these remains,

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you still have his holy tomb, from which all holy

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00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:22.960
oil wells forth, and his venerable icon, which works wonders. Bari,

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he claimed, had as much need of a patron as Myra.

280
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Surely it was just in God's plan that our pre

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eminent city of Bari should possess so great a father

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and protector. These words, though diplomatic, gave little comfort to

283
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the people of Myra. As the ships prepared to depart,

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some townsfolk noticed one of their own monks, cowled and silent,

285
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standing aboard the Bari lead ship. A howl of rage

286
00:26:59.640 --> 00:27:04.000
went up. You took money to betray our protector. Several

287
00:27:04.079 --> 00:27:08.000
shouted at the monk, accusing him of abetting the theft

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for a bribe. The mob nearly rioted, straining against the vessels,

289
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but with a cracking of oars, the ships began to

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00:27:19.160 --> 00:27:24.000
pull away. The strongest myrons clung to the hulls until

291
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the last possible second, soaked in spray, before collapsing back

292
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into the surf. On May ninth, ten eighty seven, the

293
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fleet from Bai unfurled their sails and slipped out of

294
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the Lycian harbor, carrying off Saint Nicholas of Myra on shore.

295
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The people watched with helpless anguish as the ship vanished

296
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over the horizon. Myra was bereft, Nicholas was gone. The

297
00:28:01.279 --> 00:28:06.160
men of Bari knew they had narrowly escaped, but their

298
00:28:06.200 --> 00:28:11.480
trials were not over. Legends of the voyage home, suggest

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that Saint Nicholas himself closely supervised the thieves turned custodians

300
00:28:18.920 --> 00:28:24.599
of his body. Initially, the three ships hugged the Anatolian coast,

301
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heading west. At one point, a sudden storm and head

302
00:28:29.160 --> 00:28:33.880
wind threatened to drive them aground. No matter how the

303
00:28:33.960 --> 00:28:39.880
sailors adjusted their rigging, the flotilla could make no progress.

304
00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:43.960
It was as if an invisible hand held them back.

305
00:28:45.079 --> 00:28:50.160
The frustrated crew began to wonder if Nicholas was displeased

306
00:28:50.200 --> 00:28:56.200
about something. Then one man recalled how chaotic the tomb

307
00:28:56.319 --> 00:29:00.400
rating had been. Could it be that in their squaremble,

308
00:29:01.039 --> 00:29:07.279
some of the sailors pocketed a few relics for themselves.

309
00:29:07.319 --> 00:29:11.480
It was common for those handling a saint's remains to

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try to snatch a small bone, chip or tooth as

311
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a personal token, a mixture of devotion and greed. If

312
00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:26.200
any of the Bai sailors had done so, they had

313
00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:31.880
violated the solemn vow they all took before departing that

314
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no one would keep any part of the treasure for himself.

315
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Fearing the saints wrath, the expedition leaders convened an urgent

316
00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:47.720
assembly on deck. They demanded that every man come forward

317
00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:53.039
and surrender any relics he might be hiding to reunite

318
00:29:53.079 --> 00:29:58.680
them with the main collection. One by one, guilt stricken

319
00:29:58.799 --> 00:30:05.160
sailors produced little cloth bundles and leather pouches revealing purloined

320
00:30:05.240 --> 00:30:11.039
fragments of bone. Each piece was returned to the reliquary

321
00:30:11.240 --> 00:30:17.200
chest and reconciled with Nicholas's other remains. Then the men

322
00:30:17.319 --> 00:30:21.960
fell to their knees and begged the saint for forgiveness.

323
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Almost immediately, according to the story, the contrary winds died

324
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down and a favorable breeze filled the sails. Saint Nicholas

325
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would permit the voyage to continue, but only with all

326
00:30:39.839 --> 00:30:45.279
of him together. The sailors had learned a grave lesson

327
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their holy passenger would not tolerate being divided up or

328
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treated as plunder. As they crossed the open sea, further

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00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:10.839
wonders boom the crew's spirits. Off the coast of Greece,

330
00:31:11.640 --> 00:31:16.279
a small white gull appeared and alighted on the mast

331
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of the lead ship. The bird showed no fear of

332
00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:27.039
the men. Instead, it began to sing sweetly and flutter

333
00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:32.240
from ship to ship, even perching on the reliquary for

334
00:31:32.359 --> 00:31:38.079
a time, as if giving it a blessing. The chronicler

335
00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:43.839
marvels that this gentle creature rendered reverence to Nicholas in

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its own way, a mute creation giving voice to the

337
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power of God mid ocean. After circling the fleet, the

338
00:31:54.319 --> 00:32:00.440
mysterious gull flew off and vanished, never to be seen again.

339
00:32:01.799 --> 00:32:05.480
To the sailors, this was yet another sign that their

340
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mission carried divine favor. Finally, after weeks of travel and peril,

341
00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:19.440
the three ships approached the coast of Apulia. On the

342
00:32:19.480 --> 00:32:23.839
morning of May ninth, ten eighty seven. The lookout spied

343
00:32:23.920 --> 00:32:29.960
the familiar shape of Bari's harbor. News of the expedition's

344
00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:36.799
return and its astonishing cargo spread like wildfire throughout the city.

345
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As the sailors rode ashore at the quay, carrying the

346
00:32:41.759 --> 00:32:45.680
small wooden chest on their shoulders, they were met with

347
00:32:45.759 --> 00:32:51.720
a euphoric eruption of celebration. The people of Bai, from

348
00:32:51.839 --> 00:32:56.839
nobles to fishermen, rushed to the docks in an exultant throng.

349
00:32:57.799 --> 00:33:02.880
They could scarcely believe the miracle Saint Nicholas, the Great

350
00:33:03.079 --> 00:33:08.759
wonder Worker of the East, had come to Bary. Priests

351
00:33:08.799 --> 00:33:13.960
and monks donned their richest vestments and formed an impromptu procession,

352
00:33:14.920 --> 00:33:20.119
singing hymns as they went to receive the sacred remains.

353
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The men from the ships, weary and proud, recounted their

354
00:33:26.039 --> 00:33:32.319
adventure to wide eyed listeners on the pier. Almost immediately,

355
00:33:32.640 --> 00:33:37.400
arguments broke out over where to house the relics. The

356
00:33:37.480 --> 00:33:42.559
sailors had vowed among themselves to build a grand new church,

357
00:33:43.319 --> 00:33:49.400
a shrine specifically for Saint Nicholas at a certain sight

358
00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:56.160
in town. They called it the Royal Praetorium, an open

359
00:33:56.240 --> 00:33:59.599
area that had been part of the old governor's palace.

360
00:34:00.960 --> 00:34:06.279
Some citizens, however, insisted the saint should reside in Bahri's

361
00:34:06.359 --> 00:34:12.960
main cathedral. Others thought perhaps the Benedictine Monastery of Saint Benedict,

362
00:34:13.440 --> 00:34:18.519
already standing in the city, should guard the treasure. To

363
00:34:18.639 --> 00:34:24.039
forestall any conflict, the abbot of Saint Benedict's Elias came

364
00:34:24.159 --> 00:34:29.639
forward with a solution. He persuaded the sailors to entrust

365
00:34:29.719 --> 00:34:35.480
the relics temporarily to his monastery church until a decision

366
00:34:36.039 --> 00:34:41.920
could be reached. The sailors agreed, depositing Nicholas's bones in

367
00:34:41.960 --> 00:34:46.679
the altar of Saint Benedict's, while armed guards loyal to

368
00:34:46.800 --> 00:34:52.239
the Sailors posted themselves at the doors to ensure no rival,

369
00:34:52.400 --> 00:34:59.679
faction or opportunist made off with the prize. The homecoming

370
00:34:59.719 --> 00:35:04.159
of s Saint Nicholas was not without further drama. When

371
00:35:04.159 --> 00:35:09.320
the Archbishop of Bari, a certain Ursus, got word of

372
00:35:09.360 --> 00:35:13.840
the relics arrival, he hurried back to the city. He

373
00:35:13.880 --> 00:35:18.320
had been outside Bahri at the time. As the highest

374
00:35:18.440 --> 00:35:23.719
church authority, the archbishop naturally felt he should take possession

375
00:35:23.760 --> 00:35:28.639
of the saint and install the relics in his cathedral.

376
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But the men of Bahri and the populace, who had

377
00:35:32.960 --> 00:35:38.039
supported the Sailor's mission, bristled at this. They had risked

378
00:35:38.119 --> 00:35:43.920
life and limb to rescue Nicholas, they weren't about to

379
00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:48.599
surrender him to the sole control of the archbishop, who

380
00:35:48.719 --> 00:35:55.480
might claim all the glory for himself. A tense standoff ensued.

381
00:35:56.280 --> 00:36:00.599
Ursus attempted to seize the relics by force with a

382
00:36:00.639 --> 00:36:06.119
group of armed retainers, but the townspeople rallied to the defense,

383
00:36:06.760 --> 00:36:11.519
literally taking up swords and clubs to guard Saint Nicholas's

384
00:36:11.760 --> 00:36:17.079
temporary shrine. In the brief skirmish that erupted. Two of

385
00:36:17.119 --> 00:36:23.079
the archbishop's men and one citizen were killed, blood spilt

386
00:36:23.719 --> 00:36:29.480
in the saint's name. Ultimately, the archbishop backed down in

387
00:36:29.559 --> 00:36:34.480
the face of united public opposition. The people of Bahi,

388
00:36:35.119 --> 00:36:40.360
together with their beloved sailors, would keep Saint Nicholas for

389
00:36:40.440 --> 00:36:45.239
the city. To secure that, they swiftly moved the relics

390
00:36:45.239 --> 00:36:50.559
from Saint Benedict's to a more neutral sight, the Praetorium

391
00:36:50.840 --> 00:36:54.639
as originally planned, and laid them in the chapel of

392
00:36:54.719 --> 00:37:00.480
Saint Eustradius. Their construction immediately began to we ate a

393
00:37:00.599 --> 00:37:08.039
worthy permanent shrine, the Basilika of San Nicola, literally demolishing

394
00:37:08.119 --> 00:37:12.880
old structures to build a new altar for Nicholas. On

395
00:37:12.960 --> 00:37:17.800
the spot. The armed citizenry kept round the clock watch

396
00:37:18.199 --> 00:37:23.239
over the holy remains until the new Basilika was completed.

397
00:37:24.480 --> 00:37:28.880
Pope Urban the Second himself came to Bahri two years

398
00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:34.480
later in ten eighty nine to consecrate the Basilika and

399
00:37:34.760 --> 00:37:41.519
Nicholas's new tomb. At the dedication, the Pope personally laid

400
00:37:41.599 --> 00:37:46.519
the saint's bones in a crypt beneath the altar, sealing

401
00:37:46.639 --> 00:37:52.719
Bahi's claim to Saint Nicholas for ages what the people

402
00:37:52.760 --> 00:37:56.639
of Myra had seen as theft, The people of Bai

403
00:37:57.199 --> 00:38:03.119
proclaimed a divinely ordained tren translation the rightful transfer of

404
00:38:03.159 --> 00:38:08.039
a saint's relics to a place where they truly belonged.

405
00:38:09.320 --> 00:38:14.559
May ninth, the anniversary of Nicholas's arrival in Bai, became

406
00:38:14.679 --> 00:38:21.480
an official feast day, celebrated by Western Christians. Thereafter, to

407
00:38:21.599 --> 00:38:26.840
the Greek Christians and locals of Myra, the modern Turkish government,

408
00:38:27.519 --> 00:38:32.639
none of this pomp changed the simple fact Nicholas's body

409
00:38:33.440 --> 00:38:44.239
had been stolen. Eastern chronicles would long brand the Bahri

410
00:38:44.519 --> 00:38:51.199
expedition as an outrageous act of piracy and sacrilege. One

411
00:38:51.320 --> 00:38:55.519
Byzantine writer bitterly noted that from the time of Emperor

412
00:38:55.639 --> 00:39:00.480
Constantine up to ten eighty seven quote, no end emperor

413
00:39:00.920 --> 00:39:05.559
or overlord was able to do this until a gang

414
00:39:05.599 --> 00:39:11.480
of Italian robbers succeeded in spiriting away their most treasured saint.

415
00:39:12.480 --> 00:39:17.679
But in the medieval world, possession was nine tenths of

416
00:39:17.719 --> 00:39:23.599
the law. Bai had the relics and miracles already began

417
00:39:23.840 --> 00:39:36.880
to validate their triumph almost immediately after Nicholas's remains were

418
00:39:36.920 --> 00:39:43.039
installed in bare. In ten eighty seven, miracle stories blossomed.

419
00:39:44.119 --> 00:39:48.320
A medieval chronicler records that on the very night the

420
00:39:48.400 --> 00:39:53.639
relics arrived, forty seven people in Bai were cured of

421
00:39:54.039 --> 00:40:00.639
various ailments by the Saint's intercession. Those healings include a

422
00:40:00.719 --> 00:40:06.960
nobleman with a grave illness, a man lame on one side,

423
00:40:06.960 --> 00:40:12.800
several epileptics, two lepers, and a handful of paralyzed or

424
00:40:13.119 --> 00:40:19.559
deformed individuals. In the days that followed, dozens more healings

425
00:40:19.559 --> 00:40:24.280
were reported as pilgrims streamed into the city to venerate

426
00:40:24.360 --> 00:40:30.360
the new treasure. Whether exaggerated or not, these accounts served

427
00:40:30.400 --> 00:40:35.119
to cement the idea that Nicholas approved of his new

428
00:40:35.280 --> 00:40:40.719
resting place. A poignant story even emerged from Myra. A

429
00:40:40.800 --> 00:40:44.480
monk there named Mark had a vision of Saint Nicholas

430
00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:51.199
shortly after the theft. The Saint appeared to him and said, quote,

431
00:40:51.360 --> 00:40:55.079
by the will of God, I am leaving the Roman world,

432
00:40:55.719 --> 00:40:59.719
referring to the east. Whither I go, I go on

433
00:40:59.800 --> 00:41:06.239
a visit, but here I shall dwell forever. In other words,

434
00:41:06.679 --> 00:41:11.599
Nicholas wanted his followers to know that although his physical

435
00:41:11.679 --> 00:41:16.920
bones were relocated to Barri his spiritual presence would remain

436
00:41:17.079 --> 00:41:22.840
in Myra to watch over his flock. This was scant

437
00:41:22.960 --> 00:41:27.880
consolation to the bereaved Myrons, but it at least allowed

438
00:41:27.920 --> 00:41:34.719
them to believe the saint had not utterly forsaken them. Meanwhile,

439
00:41:34.960 --> 00:41:41.519
in Bai, Nicholas's cult only grew. Pilgrims from across Italy,

440
00:41:41.840 --> 00:41:46.400
France and beyond made their way to the Basilica di

441
00:41:46.639 --> 00:41:51.639
San Nicola, and Bahri became one of Europe's most important

442
00:41:51.760 --> 00:41:59.480
pilgrimage sites virtually overnight, as the Britannica Observes hosting Saint

443
00:41:59.559 --> 00:42:05.559
Nicholas relics strengthened the city's global prominence, exactly as the

444
00:42:05.599 --> 00:42:11.960
Bahi sailors and patrons had hoped. The translation of Saint

445
00:42:12.079 --> 00:42:18.920
Nicholas also had ripple effects far beyond Italy. In late

446
00:42:19.079 --> 00:42:23.079
ten ninety six, as the First Crusade got under way,

447
00:42:23.760 --> 00:42:28.880
thousands of Frankish and Norman Crusaders gathered at Bahri en

448
00:42:28.920 --> 00:42:35.440
route to the Holy Land. These Western knights normally favored

449
00:42:35.480 --> 00:42:41.719
warrior saints, but Nicholas's reputation as a protector of travelers

450
00:42:41.880 --> 00:42:47.800
and seafarers resonated deeply with them. The presence of his

451
00:42:47.920 --> 00:42:53.880
relics in Bahi made him materially accessible to the Crusaders,

452
00:42:54.639 --> 00:43:01.079
who prayed for his aid. Through these armed pilgrims, Nicholas's

453
00:43:01.119 --> 00:43:07.440
fame and many embellished legends of his life traveled to France, England,

454
00:43:08.159 --> 00:43:13.039
and well beyond. Over the next centuries, devotion to Saint

455
00:43:13.119 --> 00:43:18.920
Nicholas spread across Europe like wildfire, blending with local folklore.

456
00:43:19.760 --> 00:43:24.199
Stories of his charity and miracle working were translated into

457
00:43:24.239 --> 00:43:28.920
a myriad of languages. By the late Middle Ages, Saint

458
00:43:29.039 --> 00:43:34.199
Nicholas had become the patron saint of children thanks to

459
00:43:34.280 --> 00:43:39.159
the tales of him resurrecting or saving youths, and a

460
00:43:39.199 --> 00:43:45.599
figure associated with gift giving in early December. In the Netherlands,

461
00:43:45.639 --> 00:43:51.159
for example, the Feast of Cinterclos on December fifth became

462
00:43:51.239 --> 00:43:56.159
a beloved holiday when a white bearded Saint Nicholas visits

463
00:43:56.320 --> 00:44:03.079
children with presents. Dutch colonists later brought these traditions to

464
00:44:03.199 --> 00:44:09.039
the New World, where Saint Nicholas, nicknamed Santa Claus, a

465
00:44:09.119 --> 00:44:14.320
corruption of Center Claus, eventually merged with other winter folk

466
00:44:14.400 --> 00:44:20.519
figures to become the jolly gift bringer of Christmas. It's

467
00:44:20.559 --> 00:44:26.880
a deliciously ironic evolution. The gentle rotund Santa Claus of

468
00:44:26.960 --> 00:44:31.559
modern Lore, clad in red and trimmed with fur, can

469
00:44:31.599 --> 00:44:37.079
trace his lineage directly back to an ascetic fourth century bishop,

470
00:44:37.719 --> 00:44:42.920
a man whose stolen bones once caused a riot and

471
00:44:43.239 --> 00:44:51.639
international intrigue. The transformation was gradual, and patchwork stories of

472
00:44:51.760 --> 00:44:57.320
Nicholas mingled with Germanic yule ore. The marketing of nineteenth

473
00:44:57.360 --> 00:45:02.320
century America gave us Santa's i conic look and so on.

474
00:45:03.400 --> 00:45:10.599
But at root, Santa Claus exists because medieval sailors stole

475
00:45:11.199 --> 00:45:17.159
Saint Nicholas's remains. Without the translation of his relics to Europe,

476
00:45:17.639 --> 00:45:22.840
Nicholas of Myra might have remained a minor Eastern saint

477
00:45:23.559 --> 00:45:29.800
lost to history. Instead, the theft in Bari launched him

478
00:45:29.800 --> 00:45:35.079
on the path to becoming the world's most recognizable saint,

479
00:45:35.199 --> 00:45:41.480
the figure who inspires hope and generosity each Christmas season.

480
00:45:42.920 --> 00:45:55.880
But he also inspired a rivalry over the relics back

481
00:45:55.960 --> 00:46:02.000
in Bari. The legacy of that ferta sacra endures tangibly

482
00:46:02.320 --> 00:46:07.119
in the form of Nicholas's tomb and the mysterious liquid

483
00:46:07.679 --> 00:46:12.599
that seeps from it. The mana of Saint Nicholas, which

484
00:46:12.639 --> 00:46:18.199
so astonished sailors in ten eighty seven, continued to exude

485
00:46:18.280 --> 00:46:23.760
from the relics after they were enshrined in Bari. In fact,

486
00:46:24.320 --> 00:46:29.000
the annual ritual of collecting the mana became a cornerstone

487
00:46:29.039 --> 00:46:33.679
of Bahri's religious calendar. Each year, on the feast of

488
00:46:33.719 --> 00:46:39.639
the translation May ninth, clerics would ceremonially extract a small

489
00:46:39.840 --> 00:46:44.320
vial of clear fluid from a silver urn atop the

490
00:46:44.400 --> 00:46:49.280
saint's tomb, a practice that still happens in modern times.

491
00:46:50.480 --> 00:46:54.480
The manna is then diluted in holy water and bottled

492
00:46:54.480 --> 00:46:59.840
for pilgrims, who treasure it as a relic with healing power.

493
00:47:00.920 --> 00:47:06.079
Throughout the Middle Ages, vials of Nicholas's miraculous mirr were

494
00:47:06.119 --> 00:47:12.199
dispatched across Christendom as gifts, spreading his renown even further.

495
00:47:13.519 --> 00:47:17.480
Skeptics note that Bahri is a low lying port city,

496
00:47:18.000 --> 00:47:23.480
and Nicholas's crypt lies below sea level, making natural condensation

497
00:47:24.159 --> 00:47:29.119
a plausible source of the liquid. In nineteen twenty five,

498
00:47:29.280 --> 00:47:34.159
scientists at the University of Bahri indeed analyzed the manna

499
00:47:34.760 --> 00:47:40.679
and found it to be pure water, odorless, colorless, sterile

500
00:47:41.840 --> 00:47:46.320
like condensing through the marble in the damp recess of

501
00:47:46.440 --> 00:47:51.639
the crypt. Of course, the Venetians have their very own

502
00:47:51.800 --> 00:47:57.639
chapter in this saga of sacred robbery. After Bahri's coup

503
00:47:57.800 --> 00:48:02.639
in ten eighty seven, Venice was humiliated at having lost

504
00:48:02.679 --> 00:48:07.440
the race, but the proud Serenissima did not give up.

505
00:48:08.239 --> 00:48:11.880
In eleven hundred, during the time of the First Crusade,

506
00:48:12.239 --> 00:48:16.440
a fleet of Venetian ships stopped in Myra on their

507
00:48:16.480 --> 00:48:20.960
way to Levant, finding Nicholas's tomb now empty of its

508
00:48:21.039 --> 00:48:25.760
prize save for an Orthodox church. Watched by a handful

509
00:48:25.840 --> 00:48:30.639
of monks, the Venetians proceeded to seize all remaining bits

510
00:48:31.039 --> 00:48:37.400
of Nicholas's skeleton that Bahri's men had left behind. According

511
00:48:37.440 --> 00:48:42.880
to a Venetian chronicle, Bishop Enrico Carterarini of Venice led

512
00:48:42.920 --> 00:48:48.639
this effort, gathering the less impressive smaller bones from the

513
00:48:48.719 --> 00:48:55.000
saint's grave, essentially any fragment, sharred or particle that Bahri

514
00:48:55.400 --> 00:49:00.159
didn't take. They even collected relics of other local saints

515
00:49:00.199 --> 00:49:04.800
and bishops of Myra as a bonus. These relics were

516
00:49:04.840 --> 00:49:09.880
triumphantly brought back to Venice and enshrined in the monastery

517
00:49:09.960 --> 00:49:14.559
of San Niccolo Aledo, a church the Venetians had actually

518
00:49:14.639 --> 00:49:20.599
dedicated to Saint Nicholas decades earlier, in hopeful anticipation of

519
00:49:21.119 --> 00:49:27.760
obtaining his body. The Venetians thus claimed they too had

520
00:49:27.840 --> 00:49:33.559
Saint Nicholas, or at least what remained of him. Naturally,

521
00:49:33.760 --> 00:49:39.239
this provoked a rivalry with Bahri. For generations, the two

522
00:49:39.320 --> 00:49:45.280
cities sparred over who possessed the authentic Saint Nicholas. Bahri

523
00:49:45.559 --> 00:49:49.760
had the bulk of the skeleton, including the skull and longbones,

524
00:49:50.320 --> 00:49:54.000
while Venice had a collection of over five hundred bone

525
00:49:54.079 --> 00:50:00.920
fragments preserved in three chests at San Niccolo Alido. For centuries,

526
00:50:01.000 --> 00:50:05.119
neither city could definitively prove the other wrong, and a

527
00:50:05.159 --> 00:50:10.840
whiff of mystery clung to the Venetian relics. The chests

528
00:50:10.880 --> 00:50:15.679
at San Niccolo Alido were opened only rarely in solemn

529
00:50:15.760 --> 00:50:21.920
church investigations, and each time, curiously, the examining abbot of

530
00:50:21.960 --> 00:50:28.880
the monastery died shortly thereafter. This gave rise to a

531
00:50:28.960 --> 00:50:35.159
superstitious belief in Venice that someone dies every time the

532
00:50:35.199 --> 00:50:40.440
bones of Saint Nicholas are disturbed, as if to support

533
00:50:40.519 --> 00:50:44.840
that notion. The last examination prior to the modern era

534
00:50:45.559 --> 00:50:51.199
in sixteen thirty four, was followed by the Abbot's sudden death.

535
00:50:52.440 --> 00:50:57.360
Many Venetians privately feared their collection might not be legitimate,

536
00:50:58.000 --> 00:51:04.599
especially since Bahri was unquestionably producing Nicholas's famed mana while

537
00:51:04.719 --> 00:51:10.880
Venice was not. In nineteen ninety two, the Venetian church

538
00:51:10.960 --> 00:51:17.000
authorities finally decided to resolve the matter with science. They

539
00:51:17.079 --> 00:51:22.719
invited Professor Luigi Martino, the very anatomist who had examined

540
00:51:22.760 --> 00:51:27.599
the Bahi relics decades earlier, to inspect the Lido chests

541
00:51:28.119 --> 00:51:30.880
and determine if the bones could be part of the

542
00:51:30.920 --> 00:51:36.960
same skeleton as found in Bai. What Martino found initially

543
00:51:37.559 --> 00:51:43.960
baffled investigators. The main Venetian chest contained a jumble of

544
00:51:44.039 --> 00:51:49.599
bones from at least three different individuals, two adults, one

545
00:51:49.679 --> 00:51:56.079
male and one female, as well as one child's partial jaw.

546
00:51:57.159 --> 00:52:03.639
Alongside them was a large pile of unidentifiable fragments. This

547
00:52:03.880 --> 00:52:08.079
mismatch led the first examining team to declare that no,

548
00:52:08.960 --> 00:52:15.320
these could not possibly all be Nicholas. Perhaps Venice had

549
00:52:15.360 --> 00:52:23.320
been harboring the wrong relics all along, But Martino dug deeper,

550
00:52:29.679 --> 00:52:35.039
noticing the heap of whitish fragments had been overlooked. Martino

551
00:52:35.280 --> 00:52:40.960
recalled the historical accounts of the tomb break. According to

552
00:52:41.000 --> 00:52:46.719
the eleventh century witness Nicephorus, when Matthew entered Nicholas's tomb,

553
00:52:47.199 --> 00:52:51.360
he immersed his hands in the liquid and found the

554
00:52:51.360 --> 00:52:58.480
holy relics floating. Archdeacon John of Bahri likewise recorded that Matthew,

555
00:52:59.000 --> 00:53:03.159
searching for the same skull amid the oily sludge, ended

556
00:53:03.239 --> 00:53:09.199
up putting his feet inside with reckless audacity, and emerged

557
00:53:09.360 --> 00:53:15.519
soaked head to toe after retrieving the last bone. These

558
00:53:15.599 --> 00:53:21.039
clues suggested that Nicholas's smaller bones had indeed been smashed

559
00:53:21.199 --> 00:53:27.239
under foot in the tomb. Martino realized the Venetian fragments

560
00:53:27.599 --> 00:53:33.719
were exactly those missing parts crushed ribs, vertebrae, and upper

561
00:53:33.760 --> 00:53:39.760
limb bones that were absent from Bahre's collection. Moreover, the

562
00:53:39.800 --> 00:53:43.679
fragment's snow white appearance hinted that they had been treated

563
00:53:43.760 --> 00:53:49.679
by the Myra monks with lime or another preservative, explaining

564
00:53:49.760 --> 00:53:53.880
why they didn't look like the aged brown Bahri bones.

565
00:53:55.119 --> 00:54:01.440
Further analysis confirmed that the fragments corresponded anatomically to precisely

566
00:54:01.519 --> 00:54:07.239
the bones missing in Bahri. In nineteen ninety three, Martino

567
00:54:07.400 --> 00:54:13.679
triumphantly reported that Bahri and Venice's relics were complementary parts

568
00:54:14.239 --> 00:54:20.079
of the same skeleton, almost certainly the true remains of

569
00:54:20.199 --> 00:54:27.760
Saint Nicholas. At long last history and anatomy had been reconciled.

570
00:54:28.800 --> 00:54:33.599
The Patriarch of Venice, dumb founded at first, expressed both

571
00:54:33.760 --> 00:54:39.519
chagrin and relief. The Venetians did have Saint Nicholas's bones

572
00:54:39.599 --> 00:54:46.639
after all, just in a pulverized form. Today, about half

573
00:54:46.719 --> 00:54:52.840
of Nicholas's skeletal remains lie in Bahri and roughly half

574
00:54:53.000 --> 00:54:57.320
in Venice, with a smattering of stray bits and churches

575
00:54:57.360 --> 00:55:03.039
from Russia to the United States. But thanks to modern

576
00:55:03.119 --> 00:55:08.760
science we know they originate from the same fourth century man.

577
00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:14.800
Scientific inquiry has shed further light on these venerable bones

578
00:55:15.280 --> 00:55:18.920
and given us a glimpse of the real human behind

579
00:55:19.119 --> 00:55:26.079
Santa Claus. In nineteen fifty three, when Bahris Basilika was

580
00:55:26.199 --> 00:55:32.360
undergoing repairs, the crypt was temporarily opened and Saint Nicholas's

581
00:55:32.400 --> 00:55:37.679
bones were exhumed for study. After eight hundred and sixty

582
00:55:37.760 --> 00:55:44.000
four years undisturbed, the skeleton was found to be extremely fragile,

583
00:55:44.639 --> 00:55:48.519
soaked with the watery manna that had pooled in the tomb,

584
00:55:49.559 --> 00:55:55.360
Professor Martino and his team carefully dried and cataloged each piece.

585
00:55:56.360 --> 00:56:01.760
They noted that while many large bones skull, legs, left, pelvis,

586
00:56:01.800 --> 00:56:06.760
and so on were intact, the smaller bones of the spine, ribs,

587
00:56:06.800 --> 00:56:12.719
and hands were mostly reduced to fragments. The damage was

588
00:56:12.880 --> 00:56:19.000
consistent with the historical accounts of breakage. Using measurements X rays,

589
00:56:19.039 --> 00:56:24.159
and eventually, in nineteen fifty seven, a full skeletal reconstruction,

590
00:56:24.880 --> 00:56:30.000
Martino determined Nicholas had been a man of small stature,

591
00:56:30.760 --> 00:56:34.800
roughly five feet six inches tall or one point six

592
00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:39.800
seven meters. He was slightly built, certainly not the plump,

593
00:56:40.159 --> 00:56:46.320
round bellied figure of modern Santa myth. Tantalizingly, though, Martino

594
00:56:46.440 --> 00:56:51.519
observed that the nasal bones showed evidence of healed fractures,

595
00:56:52.480 --> 00:56:56.079
meaning Nicholas had had a broken nose at some point

596
00:56:56.199 --> 00:57:00.920
in his life. This detailed dovetails with the evil legends

597
00:57:01.360 --> 00:57:04.599
that at the Council of Nicea in three twenty five,

598
00:57:05.119 --> 00:57:09.199
Nicholas became so angry at the heretic Arius that he

599
00:57:09.360 --> 00:57:12.760
slapped and punched him in the face, earning a brief

600
00:57:12.840 --> 00:57:17.880
imprisonment for his outburst. While we can't be certain how

601
00:57:18.000 --> 00:57:23.400
Nicholas's nose was broken, the physical evidence of injury adds

602
00:57:23.480 --> 00:57:29.039
color to his character. He may have been mild with children,

603
00:57:29.159 --> 00:57:35.320
but apparently had a temper when defending his faith. From

604
00:57:35.360 --> 00:57:39.840
the skull dimensions, Forensic anthropologists in recent years have even

605
00:57:39.920 --> 00:57:45.760
produced facial reconstructions of Saint Nicholas. They depict a Middle

606
00:57:45.760 --> 00:57:49.559
Eastern man with a prominent brow, sunk in cheeks, and

607
00:57:49.719 --> 00:57:55.159
graying hair, far from the rosy cheeked Grandpa Frost of

608
00:57:55.360 --> 00:58:02.320
Christmas cards, and yet seeing that face can an uncanny realization.

609
00:58:03.559 --> 00:58:08.639
Santa Claus, so to speak, was real, not as a

610
00:58:08.679 --> 00:58:13.639
magical elf, but as a flesh and blood human whose

611
00:58:13.719 --> 00:58:20.639
bones still lie mostly in Bari. In December of two

612
00:58:20.679 --> 00:58:26.599
thousand seventeen, scientists at Oxford University radio carbon dated a

613
00:58:26.679 --> 00:58:31.800
fragment of Saint Nicholas's pelvic bone that was being kept

614
00:58:31.840 --> 00:58:36.960
in a church in Illinois. The test confirmed the bone

615
00:58:37.039 --> 00:58:42.079
dates to the fourth century AD, around the time Nicholas died,

616
00:58:42.760 --> 00:58:49.679
traditionally dated as three forty three AD. Since Bari's collection

617
00:58:49.880 --> 00:58:52.800
is missing part of its left hip bone and the

618
00:58:52.840 --> 00:58:56.559
Illinois fragment is from the left pubis, it could well

619
00:58:56.719 --> 00:59:02.119
be the matching piece of the same Pelvis. Researchers hope

620
00:59:02.159 --> 00:59:06.360
to conduct DNA analysis in the future to verify whether

621
00:59:06.519 --> 00:59:10.719
all these far flung pieces from Bahri and Venice to

622
00:59:10.920 --> 00:59:16.599
Illinois come from the same individual. If they did, it

623
00:59:16.639 --> 00:59:22.000
would further vindicate the medieval holy thieves who swore they

624
00:59:22.039 --> 00:59:34.519
had the true Saint Nicholas. Science, of course, cannot prove

625
00:59:34.639 --> 00:59:39.519
a bone is absolutely Saint Nicholas. It can only rule

626
00:59:39.559 --> 00:59:43.960
out what is false. So far, nothing in the relics

627
00:59:44.000 --> 00:59:48.119
has contradicted the claim that these are the bones of

628
00:59:48.239 --> 00:59:52.679
Santa Claus. By all accounts, they are from the right time,

629
00:59:53.239 --> 00:59:58.000
the right age. Analysis suggests Nicholas was in his seventies

630
00:59:58.119 --> 01:00:02.960
when he died. Consists stant with tradition and even the

631
01:00:03.039 --> 01:00:07.280
right personality, a face with a busted nose that lines

632
01:00:07.360 --> 01:00:12.039
up with old legends for millions of believers. However, no

633
01:00:12.199 --> 01:00:17.480
test is needed. The miracles and the mana speak louder

634
01:00:18.079 --> 01:00:25.599
than carbon dates, Yet even miracles sometimes come under skeptical scrutiny.

635
01:00:26.440 --> 01:00:31.559
The Venetians, as noted, never witnessed Nicholas's relics produce any

636
01:00:31.679 --> 01:00:36.639
manna at all. And while Bahri's clergy insists the phenomenon

637
01:00:36.960 --> 01:00:42.960
is ancient and continuous, the bones have always leaked, As

638
01:00:43.039 --> 01:00:48.800
one account put it, there have been some eyebrow raising discoveries.

639
01:00:50.000 --> 01:00:53.880
In two thousand and two, chemists analyzed an old flask

640
01:00:54.039 --> 01:00:58.559
of supposed Saint Nicholas manna that was kept in Venice,

641
01:00:59.119 --> 01:01:03.039
said to date that to the eleven hundreds. The test

642
01:01:03.119 --> 01:01:09.840
revealed it wasn't mysterious mirr at all, but ordinary vegetable

643
01:01:09.880 --> 01:01:15.440
oil from the fourteenth century. This suggests that at some

644
01:01:15.679 --> 01:01:22.000
point someone in Venice either faked Nicholas's mana or substituted

645
01:01:22.039 --> 01:01:27.199
something for it, perhaps as a devotional practice or even

646
01:01:28.079 --> 01:01:32.800
as a scam. In Bahre's case, as we've seen, the

647
01:01:32.880 --> 01:01:38.719
mana is almost certainly water seeping. In Barre's crypt lies

648
01:01:38.800 --> 01:01:43.199
only a few hundred yards from the Adriatic Sea, and

649
01:01:43.280 --> 01:01:49.000
the water table is high. The stone sarcophagus is air tight.

650
01:01:49.559 --> 01:01:54.199
Engineers found no cracks in it during the nineteen fifties exam,

651
01:01:54.840 --> 01:02:00.320
but moisture can infiltrate via the marble platform. The thus

652
01:02:00.360 --> 01:02:06.480
applausible natural explanation is that the manna is basically filtered

653
01:02:06.559 --> 01:02:13.960
seawater collecting inside the tomb by capillary action supporting this.

654
01:02:14.440 --> 01:02:18.079
When Nicholas's bones were taken out in nineteen fifty three,

655
01:02:18.880 --> 01:02:26.320
they continued to perspire copiously for some time, the linen

656
01:02:26.360 --> 01:02:32.440
cloths wrapping them became soaking wet. For all that, many

657
01:02:32.559 --> 01:02:39.239
Bahri faithful remain unfazed whether mana is condensation or not.

658
01:02:40.000 --> 01:02:44.960
They consider it sanctified by contact with the saint. In

659
01:02:45.039 --> 01:02:49.760
their eyes, it's a gift from Nicholas, a yearly reminder

660
01:02:49.800 --> 01:02:54.320
of his presence among them. If anything, though, the biggest

661
01:02:54.400 --> 01:03:00.519
threat to Nicholas's relics is not skepticism but the silent

662
01:03:00.679 --> 01:03:06.920
decay of time. In nineteen fifty seven, after the restoration

663
01:03:07.039 --> 01:03:11.360
of the Basilica, the bones were re entombed in Bahi's

664
01:03:11.400 --> 01:03:17.800
crypt and have remained sealed away ever since. Decades later,

665
01:03:17.920 --> 01:03:21.719
in two thousand and four, a team making a BBC

666
01:03:22.039 --> 01:03:27.119
documentary The Real Face of Santa were granted permission to

667
01:03:27.199 --> 01:03:32.119
insert a tiny fiber optic camera into the tomb to

668
01:03:32.280 --> 01:03:36.840
check on the condition of the relics. What they saw

669
01:03:37.719 --> 01:03:43.960
alarmed them. Doctor Franco Introna, a forensic anthropologist on the team,

670
01:03:44.679 --> 01:03:49.599
reported that Saint Nicholas's bones were lying in pools of water.

671
01:03:50.960 --> 01:03:55.880
The continual manna had created a shallow bath, and some

672
01:03:56.039 --> 01:04:01.400
bones showed signs of further deterioration. Since the nineteen fifties,

673
01:04:02.599 --> 01:04:06.039
in Trona worried that if nothing was done, the last

674
01:04:06.119 --> 01:04:11.639
remains of Saint Nicholas could disintegrate within a century. I

675
01:04:11.679 --> 01:04:15.840
am a little bit sad, in Trona, confessed, observing the

676
01:04:15.880 --> 01:04:21.760
eroding relics. These bones don't belong to Bai. They belonged

677
01:04:21.840 --> 01:04:24.880
to all the world and to all the people that

678
01:04:25.000 --> 01:04:31.159
love Saint Nicholas. In two thousand and seventeen, perhaps in

679
01:04:31.239 --> 01:04:35.800
part due to such concerns, Bai loaned a fragment of

680
01:04:35.920 --> 01:04:41.440
Nicholas a rib to the Russian Orthodox Church for veneration.

681
01:04:42.679 --> 01:04:45.559
It was the first time in nine hundred and thirty

682
01:04:45.679 --> 01:04:50.199
years any part of the BAI relics had left the city.

683
01:04:51.440 --> 01:04:54.679
Over a million Russians lined up in Moscow for a

684
01:04:54.760 --> 01:04:59.559
fleeting glimpse of the golden reliquary holding that single rib.

685
01:05:01.039 --> 01:05:07.400
The overwhelming response underscored how deeply Nicholas, not just Santa Claus,

686
01:05:07.480 --> 01:05:13.599
but Saint Nicholas himself is loved and revered around the world.

687
01:05:14.800 --> 01:05:19.559
He's a rare figure who bridges cultures at once a

688
01:05:19.679 --> 01:05:25.239
Christian saint honored in ornate cathedral liturgies, and an icon

689
01:05:25.360 --> 01:05:31.840
of cheerful generosity celebrated in shopping malls and movies. The

690
01:05:31.880 --> 01:05:36.280
tale of Saint Nicholas's Relics is thus a strangely poignant

691
01:05:36.360 --> 01:05:42.159
Christmas story in its own right. It has darkness, thieves

692
01:05:42.239 --> 01:05:46.519
breaking into a sacred shrine by night, monks weeping over

693
01:05:46.559 --> 01:05:50.400
a great loss, bones hidden and broken and fought over.

694
01:05:51.760 --> 01:05:56.000
It has wonder the mysterious manner exuding from a tomb,

695
01:05:56.559 --> 01:06:04.199
storms calmed and signs given, miracles proclaimed by the faithful.

696
01:06:04.280 --> 01:06:07.960
It has a legacy that endures in both solemn ritual

697
01:06:08.320 --> 01:06:13.840
and lighthearted tradition. Every year in Bahri, as the Feast

698
01:06:13.920 --> 01:06:19.920
of Translation comes, locals reenact the arrival of Nicholas's Relics

699
01:06:20.000 --> 01:06:24.000
carrying his statue from the harbor, just as the sailors

700
01:06:24.039 --> 01:06:29.800
did in ten eighty seven. And every year on Christmas Eve,

701
01:06:30.440 --> 01:06:35.000
children hang stockings for Santa Claus, never guessing that the

702
01:06:35.039 --> 01:06:39.639
inspiration for their benevolent gift giver lies in a crypt

703
01:06:39.880 --> 01:06:46.320
in Italy, in a box of wet bones. The contrast

704
01:06:47.119 --> 01:06:52.360
is haunting Santa the symbol of innocent joy owes his

705
01:06:52.480 --> 01:06:58.079
existence to a long ago crime, a furta sacra, committed

706
01:06:58.119 --> 01:07:02.679
by men who paradie doxically believed it was the holiest

707
01:07:02.840 --> 01:07:08.320
thing they could do. Those Bahis sailors truly felt they

708
01:07:08.360 --> 01:07:14.000
were rescuing Saint Nicholas, not robbing him. In medieval thinking,

709
01:07:14.039 --> 01:07:17.840
the Saint himself sanctioned their act, choosing to move where

710
01:07:17.880 --> 01:07:23.599
his relics could shine more brightly. Indeed, had Nicholas's bones

711
01:07:23.679 --> 01:07:29.840
stayed in Myra under Turkish rule, his cult might have faded. Instead,

712
01:07:29.960 --> 01:07:34.360
the West gained a patron saint, and eventually the world

713
01:07:35.159 --> 01:07:39.480
gained Santa Claus. The sailors could never have imagined that

714
01:07:39.519 --> 01:07:43.719
their rough deed would echo through the ages in such

715
01:07:43.920 --> 01:07:49.320
cheerful guise. As we reflect on this saga, the mood

716
01:07:49.519 --> 01:07:57.039
is bitter, sweet, festive, yet unsettling. In the quiet Basilica

717
01:07:57.079 --> 01:08:01.480
of San Nicola, a flask of clear Mana sits on

718
01:08:01.519 --> 01:08:04.960
a shelf in the gift shop, ready to be purchased

719
01:08:05.079 --> 01:08:10.960
by hopeful pilgrims. Above, in the apse, a grand painted

720
01:08:11.000 --> 01:08:17.640
ceiling shows Saint Nicholas himself gazing down benignly. According to

721
01:08:17.720 --> 01:08:22.640
one local legend, Nicholas once appeared in a dream and

722
01:08:22.800 --> 01:08:26.760
predicted that his bones would one day rest in Bahri.

723
01:08:28.199 --> 01:08:33.800
True or not, that prophecy was fulfilled by human daring.

724
01:08:34.760 --> 01:08:38.600
The relics of Saint Nicholas remain in Bahri to this day,

725
01:08:39.359 --> 01:08:44.640
silent witnesses to an extraordinary journey. Each bone fragment, whether

726
01:08:44.720 --> 01:08:49.920
in Italy, Venice, or scattered across Europe, tells a story

727
01:08:49.960 --> 01:08:54.479
of faith strong enough to steal and hope strong enough

728
01:08:54.479 --> 01:08:59.560
to endure the ages. Next time you hear of Santa

729
01:08:59.560 --> 01:09:05.359
Claus coming on Christmas Eve, remember that his story did

730
01:09:05.399 --> 01:09:10.239
not begin at the North Pole, but in an ancient

731
01:09:10.399 --> 01:09:16.159
tomb by the Mediterranean Sea. It is there, in the

732
01:09:16.199 --> 01:09:21.199
flicker of oil lamps and the whispers of praying monks,

733
01:09:22.239 --> 01:09:27.199
that the legend of Saint Nicholas became entwined with miracles

734
01:09:28.319 --> 01:09:34.720
and mischief. Terrifying and True is narrated by Enrique Kuto.

735
01:09:35.039 --> 01:09:38.520
It's executive produced by Rob Fields and bobble Topia dot

736
01:09:38.560 --> 01:09:42.199
com and produced by Dan Wilder, with original theme music

737
01:09:42.279 --> 01:09:44.920
by Ray Mattis. If you have a story you think

738
01:09:44.960 --> 01:09:47.720
we should cover on Terrifying and True, send us an

739
01:09:47.720 --> 01:09:51.359
email at Weekly Spooky at gmail dot com and if

740
01:09:51.399 --> 01:09:52.920
you want to support us for as little as one

741
01:09:52.960 --> 01:09:56.079
dollar a month, go to Weeklyspooky dot com slash join.

742
01:09:56.319 --> 01:09:58.560
Your support for as little as one dollar a month

743
01:09:58.640 --> 01:10:01.159
keeps the show going. Speaking of I want to say

744
01:10:01.159 --> 01:10:04.359
an extra special thank you to our Patreon podcast boosters,

745
01:10:04.439 --> 01:10:06.239
folks who pay a little bit more to hear their

746
01:10:06.319 --> 01:10:08.000
name at the end of the show. And they are

747
01:10:08.279 --> 01:10:13.119
Johnny Nix, Kate and Lulu, Jessica Fuller, Mike Escuey, Jenny Green,

748
01:10:13.279 --> 01:10:16.840
Amber Hansburg, Karen we Met, Jack Ker, and Craig Cohen.

749
01:10:16.880 --> 01:10:19.119
Thank you all so much and thank you for listening.

750
01:10:19.279 --> 01:10:22.760
We'll see you all right here next time on Terrifying

751
01:10:22.880 --> 01:10:24.760
and True