St. Nicholas, the early Christian saint who inspired Santa Claus, spent time in prison - five years. That was under the Roman emperor Diocletian, who persecuted Christians.
Nicholas spent further time in prison. Here's the story from stnicholascenter.org:
Under Constantine, the first Christian emperor, Nicholas fared better until the Council of Nicaea, in AD 325. There, after having a serious theological argument with another powerful bishop, Nicholas became so enraged that he walked across the room and slapped the man.
It was illegal for one bishop to strike another. According to an account provided by the St. Nicholas Center: “The bishops stripped Nicholas of his bishop’s garments, chained him, and threw him into jail. That would keep Nicholas away from the meeting. When the Council ended a final decision would be made about his future.”
Nicholas spent the night praying for guidance, and was visited by Jesus and Mary. “When the jailer came in the morning, he found the chains loose on the floor and Nicholas dressed in bishop’s robes, quietly reading the Scriptures.” It was determined that no one could have visited or helped him during the night. Constantine ordered Nicholas freed and reinstated as the Bishop of Myra, and his feat would later be declared one of many miracles [attributed to] the saint.
This is no normal Christmas website. Here is the concluding paragraph on the story which has the headline: Santa was in prison and Jesus got the death penalty
"Here in the United States nearly two thousand years later, Christians go to church to worship an executed savior and shop to commemorate an incarcerated saint. And most Americans give little thought to their 2 million countrymen who are spending this Christmas behind bars."
We spent 'time' with Santa and Mrs Claus yesterday at the Fantasy of Trees.
