Foundations

Behind the modern figure of 'Santa Claus' stands a real and holy bishop: St. Nicholas of Myra (c. 270–343), who lived in what is now Turkey. Orphaned young and left a fortune, Nicholas decided to use his wealth quietly for the poor, in obedience to Christ's call to give in secret 'so that your left hand does not know what your right hand is doing.' The most famous story tells of a poor father with three daughters who could not afford the dowries they needed to marry, leaving them in danger of being sold into slavery. On three nights, Nicholas secretly tossed bags of gold through the family's window (some versions say down the chimney, into stockings drying by the fire — the origin of our Christmas stockings). He never sought thanks. Nicholas was bishop of Myra, suffered imprisonment during the Roman persecutions, and by tradition attended the Council of Nicaea in 325, where the Nicene Creed was framed and the divinity of Christ defended against the Arian heresy. He became one of the most beloved saints in both East and West, patron of children, sailors, and the falsely accused. Over centuries, Dutch settlers' 'Sinterklaas' became the American 'Santa Claus' — but the true Nicholas was not a jolly elf; he was a courageous bishop whose secret charity made him a living image of God's hidden generosity. His feast on December 6 is a highlight of Advent.

In 1095, at the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II made a dramatic appeal: he called on the knights of Western Europe to stop fighting one another and instead march to aid Eastern Christians and recover Jerusalem and the Holy Land, which had been under Muslim rule for centuries and where Christian pilgrims faced growing dangers. The immediate trigger was a plea for help from the Byzantine emperor, threatened by the Seljuk Turks. The crowd roared, 'Deus vult!' — 'God wills it!' — and the Crusades began. The First Crusade (1096–1099) was, against all odds, a military success: the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099, though with a notorious massacre that stains the victory. They set up the 'Crusader states' along the eastern Mediterranean coast. But these were hard to hold. Over the next two centuries came further crusades — the Second, the Third (with Richard the Lionheart facing the great Muslim leader Saladin, who had retaken Jerusalem in 1187), and the disastrous Fourth (which sacked Christian Constantinople in 1204). By 1291 the last Crusader stronghold fell, and the venture, in military terms, had failed. The motives were genuinely mixed: real religious devotion and the desire to protect pilgrims and Eastern Christians, but also ambition, greed for land and plunder, and the violence of a warrior culture. The consequences were vast: deeper contact (and trade) between Europe and the East, the flow of goods and ideas, lasting wounds between Catholic and Orthodox Christians, and a bitter legacy in Christian-Muslim relations. The Crusades are neither simply heroic nor simply shameful; honest history holds both truths.

The Church calls Penance (Confession/Reconciliation) and the Anointing of the Sick the two sacraments of healing, because through them Christ continues his work of healing soul and body. YOUCAT 226 teaches that in the sacrament of Penance we are freed from the sins committed after Baptism. The penitent confesses his sins to a priest, expresses sorrow (contrition), and receives absolution — God's forgiveness spoken through the priest, who acts 'in the person of Christ.' Christ gave this power to the Church on Easter evening: 'Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them' (John 20:23). Confession restores us to God's friendship and to the communion of the Church. It is fitting in Advent, a season of preparing our hearts; many Catholics go to Confession before Christmas. The Anointing of the Sick, YOUCAT 241 teaches, is for those who are seriously ill or near death: the priest anoints them with holy oil and prays, asking God for healing, strength, peace, and courage, and the forgiveness of sins. It unites the sufferer's pain with the suffering of Christ and prepares them, if it is God's will, for the journey home to heaven. Both sacraments answer a deep human need: we are wounded by sin and by sickness, and Christ comes to bind up our wounds. The Crusaders you studied today went to Confession before battle; medieval Christians were anointed at death — these sacraments framed life's most serious moments.

Today you saw both the heights and depths of medieval Christendom: the secret charity of St. Nicholas, the mixed motives of the Crusades, and the mercy of the healing sacraments. Human beings can intend good and still do wrong — which is exactly why mercy and Confession exist.