The Translation of the Precious Relics of Our Father Among the Saints Nicholas, from Myra to Bari

trans. Isaac Lambertsen


It is indeed rare for the Church to keep faithfully the commemoration of the translation of the relics of a saint into lands fallen under the control of heretics. That such a festival should yet be kept is testimony to the great and special warmth of devotion to St. Nicholas, surely amongst the greatest (if there be such!) of those in the Kingdom of Heaven. The account of the circumstances of the removal of his relics from their place of burial (which had fallen prey to the Moslems) to Bari in Italy provides the historical background for the service in honor of the event.