December 8 – 9 : 2nd Sunday of Advent:
New facial reconstruction tech-nology reveals the most realistic portrait of St. Nicholas.
Many are familiar with the image of jolly old St. Nick, popularized by the Coca-Cola company, but modern-day legends have obscured the reality of who Santa Claus was and what he really looked like.
St. Nicholas is currently buried in the crypt of the Basilica di San Nicola in Bari, Italy. Most of his bones were moved there in the 11th century when a group of sailors took his remains from Myra during a time of con-fusion. When the crypt was repaired in the 1950s, Nicho-las’ bones were taken out and examined by a team of pro-fessors. Thousands of measurements and x-ray photo-graphs were taken of his skull and bones and archived for future study.
Then in 2004 Professor Caroline Wilkinson at the Uni-versity of Manchester used facial reconstruction technol-ogy to visualize what St. Nicholas would have looked like based on the data previously recorded. Her findings were updated in 2014 and according to the BBC, this latest im-age “was based on ‘all the skeletal and historical material’ available” and “uses ‘the most up-to-date anatomical standards, Turkish tissue depth data and CGI tech-niques.’” The reconstruction was developed by the Uni-versity of Dundee and Liverpool John Moores University. Based on the findings St. Nicholas is described as “a Greek man, living in Asia Minor … about 60 years old, 5 feet 6 inches tall, who had a heavy jaw and a broken nose.”
What’s even more fascinating is how similar St. Nicholas’ face is to early icons of him. The St. Nicholas Center of-fers a comparative picture of the digital reconstruction alongside various icons of the 4th-century saint. The similarities are striking.
While he may not look like the jolly old St. Nick that the world is accustomed to, there do exist some features that are recognizable in popular representations and one could almost sense a twinkle in his eyes.
Philip Kosloski
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December 12: Our Lady of Guadalupe:
“Hear and let it penetrate into your heart, my dear little son: let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you. Let nothing alter your heart or your countenance. Also, do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain. Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you not under my
shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life ? Are you not in the crossing of my arms ?"
shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life ? Are you not in the crossing of my arms ?"
The Blessed Virgin speaking to Juan Diego, on Tepeyac Hill
(December 1531)
(December 1531)