St. Nick Stops by Woodstock School
By Amanda Hudson, News Editor
December 13, 2018
It’s understandable why young students at St. Mary School in Woodstock — or anywhere — might confuse St. Nicholas with Santa Claus.
After all, so much of the story of the jolly Mr. Claus was inspired by that fourth century bishop from Myra in Egypt.
On Dec. 5, the day before St. Nicholas’ feast day, Deacon Jim Davis of Beloit, Wis., came to St. Mary’s dressed as St. Nicholas, making an appearance first at morning Mass followed by visits to classrooms of the younger elementary students. He is a deacon in the Madison (Wis.) Diocese.
At Mass, he introduced some of the stories of that holy bishop, for example, that he gave gifts, including sacks of coins that he threw into the home of three sisters who were unable to marry because they had no dowries. He explained also that the bishop regularly enlisted the help of a little person, which eventually inspired the idea of Santa’s elves.
But for some, those explanations were lost as soon as the name “Santa” was mentioned. Something of an electric current of excitement rippled through the pews when Father Burt Absalon, pastor, put the saint’s name and Santa’s together.
Questions asked by the youngsters included “Why aren’t you dressed like Santa?” — which led to an explanation of the bishop’s miter and staff. “Why is Rudolph’s nose red?” prompted an answer about guiding Santa’s sleigh in fog. “Am I on the ‘nice’ list?” had Bishop Nicholas asking a student if she was in fact a nice and good girl.
Still, many students of all ages raised their hands when asked if they knew about St. Nicholas and the tradition of putting shoes by the front door the evening before his feast day.
Candy and other little gifts are traditionally found by children in their shoes the morning of Dec. 6 in memory of the generosity of Bishop Nicholas. Father Absalon and Deacon Davis stressed that students should tell their parents what they were doing if they were going to leave their shoes out at home, because unknowing parents might otherwise put those shoes away.
Celebrations of St. Nicholas at the school included a project done by teacher Emma Wodek’s sixth grade class. They collected more than 600 items like shampoo and toothpaste for homeless people. The items, donated by school families, became part of “St. Nick bags” that Wodek’s homeroom students and their second grade prayer partners decorated and filled. The bags were delivered the afternoon of Dec. 5 to the area PADS shelter.
Deacon Davis had better luck sharing the story of St. Nicholas with smaller groups of students including classrooms of preschoolers and first graders who stared at his miter, staff and vestments and seemed to absorb that he was somehow different than Santa.
He taught them how candy canes came about. A choirmaster long ago in Germany wanted to remind people that Christmas is about Jesus. The white of the canes is to remind us of Jesus’ purity and goodness, he said, and the red represents his Passion.
Candy canes are shaped like a shepherd’s staff, he explained, both to help remember that Jesus is the Good Shepherd and, when turned upside down, they form a “J” for “Jesus.”
And finally, the saintly bishop/helpful deacon provided a picture of St. Nicholas and Santa Claus to each classroom to remind them that one may have helped inspire the other, but that indeed there is a difference.
Both figures, however, can provide examples of what past-St. Mary principal, Ed O’Brien, had in mind when he asked his deacon-friend to come to St. Mary to share “a lesson of true kindness, giving, and love at Christmas.”