December 6 -- St Nicholas

Today is the feast of St Nicholas, the patron saint of children, coopers, scholars, boatmen, fisherman, dock workmen, sailors, brewers, travelers, pilgrims. . .and highly unofficially, robbers.  See, he went about at night with bags of money.  True, he was distributing rather than collecting but the robbers didn't want to get side-tracked with details.

As is our custom, herewith the traditional Roman collect for St Nicholas, notable for getting right to the point of the exercize without much in the way of poetic hyperbole:

O God, Who didst adorn Thy blessed bishop, Saint Nicholas, with power to work many and great miracles : grant, we beseech Thee ; that by his prayers and merits we may be delivered from the flames of hell.  Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

More on St Nicholas can be found here.