2025 CHRISTMAS CAMPAIGN
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The Pontifical Swiss Guard posted on Facebook some darling pictures of a special visitor to the Vatican: St. Nicholas himself showed up, and brought presents not only to Pope Leo, but also to his Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
A close look reveals that Pope Leo got an orange in his stocking (no coal this year!).
While the tradition is no longer so common, those of us who have parents or grandparents from the Great Depression years probably associate oranges with Christmas.
There are a few reasons that an orange became linked to St. Nick’s gifts.
As we know, the story goes that Bishop Nicholas left gold in the stockings of young women who needed a dowry. While we’d all love a real sphere of gold in our stockings, a sweet orange is a close replica!
Oranges are ripe and ready for picking in the winter months, so in the warm zones of southern Europe they would have been easy to acquire for Christmas. For northern Europe, however, an orange would have been a real treat.
This same sense of luxury applied in the hard years of the Great Depression, when a piece of fresh fruit was truly a gift.
The poignant children’s book An Orange for Frankie beautifully tells of one Great Depression family — but have a tissue on hand for reading it, mamas!
We’re grateful to the Swiss Guard for having guided St. Nick to the Vatican, and we join the holy bishop in praying for the Holy Father and his team this Christmas! We imagine that St. Nicholas (who was at the Council of Nicaea) really loved the Pope’s visit to Turkey!
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