Just at the right time.
Turkish archaeologists have discovered a sarcophagus they believe may belong to St. Nicholas, the generous Christian saint who inspired Santa Claus.
Researchers discovered the sarcophagus in the heart of a 7th-century church built in honor of Merry Old Saint Nick, who served as a bishop in the Mediterranean city of Myra in the 4th century before emigrating to the North Pole.
The limestone sarcophagus was 6 feet long and about 5 feet deep with a sloping lid and was buried about 6 feet underground. Heritage Daily Report.
“Our greatest hope is to find an inscription on the sarcophagus. This will help reveal the contents of the burial and allow us to determine its exact age,” said Hatay Mustafa Kemal University's Ebru Fatma Findik said.
Archaeologists from Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism said more details are expected to emerge as the excavation progresses.
The saint was buried in the church where he preached in the Greek port city of Myra in Asia Minor.
Hundreds of years after his death, he became so popular that Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II built a magnificent church in his honor on the same site.
The bones of Saint Nicholas were thought to have been in Venice after the First Crusade, which began in 1096.
Heritage Daily reported that the bodies were believed to have been taken from a church in Bari, Italy, after being moved from Myra at an unspecified time.
Tests on bones discovered in Bari and Venice in 1953 confirmed they belonged to the same person, but it is not clear whether that person was St. Nicholas, Heritage Daily reported. Reported.
St. Nicholas is buried in the church where he ruled and led the mission in the 4th century as bishop of Myra, in what is now Turkey's Antalya province.
Nicholas is said to be the giver of gifts and is the patron saint of children, merchants, and repentant thieves.
