It’s an early December day, and Epiphany of Our Lord Byzantine Catholic Church in Annandale, Virginia, is quiet.
“I’ll bring it out now,” Deacon Elmer Pekarik says as he walks behind the altar.
Deacon Elmer emerges moments later, holding an ornamental brass case. Inside is a relic from St. Nicholas, the church’s patron saint and the inspiration for Santa Claus. It’s accompanied by a very small label that reads in Latin “Episcopus Nicolai.” Bishop Nicholas.
“You are looking at a piece of his bone,” Deacon Elmer says.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And he’s in Annandale. Well, at least a bone fragment.
Deacon Elmer explains that the small piece of one of the saint’s finger bones came to the church in the 1980s, donated by a parishioner who obtained it in Rome. It’s believed there are fewer than 20 relics of St. Nick currently in the United States.
“It’s been certified by Rome to be authentic. And we are stewards of it,” he says. “A relic can never be bought or sold. There’s no price on it.“
Relics are important in Catholicism. They are often parts of a holy person’s body, or their belongings, that people venerate. Deacon Elmer points out that this is a common practice even outside of Catholicism.
“If you had a picture of your grandfather who passed away, and you walk by it and you think, ‘Oh, let me touch him.’ That’s an act of veneration,” he says.
The relic, along with a vial of water from St. Nick’s tomb, is brought out only once a year during the Feast of St. Nicholas on December 6th. The rest of the year, the church puts it away in a safe place.
Even though Deacon Elmer has been at Epiphany of Our Lord for close to 25 years and has led liturgy many times, he still becomes overwhelmed at the sight of the relic.
“It’s a brand new experience every time I experience it. So, yeah, it’s a wow moment,” Deacon Elmer says.
It took about 1,400 years for St. Nick to evolve into the Santa Claus we now know today.
Father Aquinas Guilbeau is the university chaplain at Catholic University of America in Northeast D.C. He explains that St. Nicholas was a 4th-century bishop in modern-day Turkey, known for his kindness and generosity.
“He was a man of deep charity and loved his people, especially the poor. So, he’s remembered for that,” says Father Guilbeau. He recounts a much-told story of how he secretly provided money to a family to save their three daughters from being sold into slavery.
Catholics so revered St. Nicholas that, centuries after his death, he was dug up and brought to Italy. As his legend spread across Europe, and beyond, how he was depicted changed as well. A 19th-century American poem titled “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” otherwise known as “The Night Before Christmas,” portrays him as a rotund, European-looking man with a flowing white beard.
Father Guilbeau says that while the secular world has claimed St. Nick as Santa, Epiphany of our Lord is a perfect home for the St. Nick relic.
“It’s fitting that this church, which is a Byzantine Catholic Church, would have the relic of a prominent Eastern saint,” he says.
Only about ten miles from Epiphany of our Lord is the two-century-old Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria. It’s home to one of the most complete displays of St. Nicholas imagery & iconography in the country.
Nicky Burridge, Senior Vice President of Communications for the largest Episcopal theological seminary in the U.S., explains that it began as a traveling exhibit before the St. Nicholas collection found its permanent home at the Seminary in 2023.
The public exhibit features colorful paintings, lifelike statues, storybooks, glossy plates, red stockings, and masks, all depicting the likeness of St. Nick.
“It’s about the historical figure of St. Nicholas,” Burridge explains. “It’s about his relationship with Christianity, and St. Nicholas traditions around the world.”
Carol Meyers is the exhibit’s curator and founder of the online St. Nicholas Center. She started the collection to show her kids that there was a real man of faith behind the Santa Claus figure. It’s taken her nearly forty years to amass more than 1,000 items in her collection.
“Initially, it was hard to find St. Nicholas things. And I had good friends [who would help], and it was almost like a sport,” Meyers says. “And if we would find something, we’d tell each other. It was all under control. And then eBay came along.”
Meyers said a majority of her collection has come from eBay, Etsy, and holiday markets in Germany, Austria, and other European countries. She donated a portion of her collection to the Seminary. The rest is at her Michigan home, including her very own St. Nick relic.
Back in Annandale at Epiphany of our Lord, Deacon Elmer says he enjoys showing off the relic because it gives him a chance to talk about the acts of charity St. Nick exhibited throughout his life. Plus, it’s pretty cool.
“Who would think that Nicholas, Saint Nicholas, would be right here in Annandale?”
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