December 6 -- the Feast of St Nicholas

Today is the feast of St Nicholas, the patron saint of children, scholars, boatmen, fishermen, dock workmen and sailors, coopers and brewers, travelers and pilgrims, and those who have unjustly lost a lawsuit.  Robbers took him for their patron, too, seeing as how he went about at night with bags of money.  Of course, he was distributing rather than collecting, but the robbers don't seemed to have placed much emphasis on that detail.

Some of the verses of the delightful hymn posted above:

O, who loves Nicholas the saintly.

O, who serves Nicholas the saintly.

Him will Nicholas receive

And give help in time of need

Holy Father Nicholas!

O, who dwells in God's holy mansions

Is our help on the land and oceans

He will guard us from all ills

Keep us pure and free from sins

Holy Father Nicholas!

Holy saint, hearken to our prayer

Let not life drive us to despair

All our efforts shall not wane

Singing praises to thy name

Holy Father Nicholas!

I don't have the Ruthenian text.   And getting the Cyrillic alphabet into Blogspot is,  I'm told possible.  But nevertheless, beyond me.

The traditional collect in the Roman Rite for his feast day goes right to the point.  No beating around the bush with St Nicholas.  Herewith the old Stanbrook Abbey translation:

O God, who didst glorify the blessed Bishop Nicholas with numberless miracles ; grant we beseech Thee that by his merits and prayers we may be saved from the fires of hell.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

 "A gehennæ incendiis liberemur", indeed.