Saint Nicholas Relics—

Where are they?

Saint Nicholas’ primary relics are located in a tomb in the crypt of the Basilica di San Nicola, Bari, Italy. They have rested there since 1087. Many places lay claim to St. Nicholas relics, as listed below.

Altar with opening over tomb — Saint Nicholas tomb, crypt, Basilica di San Nicola, Bari, Italy
*Photo: Postcard detail*

The second major repository for St. Nicholas relics is in the monastery church of San Nicoló in the Lido of Venice, Italy.

Altar over reliquary, Chiesa di San Nicoló, the Lido of Venice, Italy
*Photo: Centro Studi Nicolaiani, Bari, Italy, used by permission*

Gold reliquary, figure of St Nicholas — Monastery of St. Marienstern, Panschwitz-Kuckau, Germany
Saint holding a tooth
Prague, ca 1300
Photo:

Austria

Wilfersdorf: Pfarrkirche Hl. Nikolaus (Roman Catholic)

Belarus

Minsk: Cathedral of the Holy Spirit (Orthodox)
Gift of Fribourg Saint Nicolas Cathedral, February 2006

Wooden chest — Gift to Minsk from Fribourg,
*Photos:University of Fribourg*

Belgium

Sint-Niklaas: Sint-Nicolaaskerk (Roman Catholic)

Bulgaria

Sofia: Russian Church of St. Nikolai (Russian Orthodox)
Bourgas: Church of St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker (Roman Catholic)
Placed December 6, 2010 (particle)

Silver bust on large base — Sint-Niklaaskerk, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium
*Photo: postcard*

Hand on large stand — Dom Ss. Stephanus & Sixtus, Halberstadt, Germany

Canada

Napierville, Quebec: Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Two Virgins (Roman Catholic) (finger)
Ottawa: Annunciation to the Theotokos/St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral (Orthodox
Toronto: Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church

Denmark

Slangerup: former Skt. Nikolaj Kirke, Slangerup Kloster (Roman Catholic)
Before the Reformation

England

Brighton: Parish Church of St Michael & All Angels (Church of England)

France

Corbie: Abbaye Royale de Saint-Pierre
A finger, gone since 1333
Lille, Lorraine: Palais des Beaux Arts
A Tooth

Oval reliquary — 13th century reliquary
*Palais des Beaux Arts, Lille, France*

Saint-Nicholas-de-Port, Lorraine: Basilique Saint-Nicolas (Roman Catholic)
Large relic (finger) brought from Bari in 1090, shortly after the 1087 Translation; two more also
Toulouse: Eglise Saint-Nicolas (Roman Catholic)
A finger bone

Silver bust — Basilique Saint Nicolas
Saint-Nicolas-de-Port
*Photo: M Vankan*

Hand on tall stand — Basilique Saint Nicolas
Saint-Nicolas-de-Port
*Photo: M Vankan*

Ornate gold box — Basilique Saint Nicolas
Saint-Nicolas-de-Port
*Photo: J Rosenthal*

Greece

Amarynthos (Ano Vatheia), Euboea: Katholikon of St. Nicholas
The monastery has many holy relics
Saint Nicholas Monastery, Apikia, Andros
Church of Agios Nikolaos, Portaria, Thessaly

Germany

Brauweiler: Abteikirche Ss. Nikolaus & Medardus
Reliquary is in the altar
Halberstadt: Dom St. Stephanus und St. Sixtus (Roman Catholic)
In the cathedral treasury, a finger originally in St. Sophia in Constantinople
Nikolausberg: Klosterkirche St. Nikolaus
Pilgrimage spot before the Reformation
Panschwitz-Kuckau: St. Marienstern Monastery (tooth)(Roman Catholic)
Worms: Cathedral of St. Peter, Nikolauskapelle
Relics donated in AD 972, lost in Nine Years’ War (1689), manna placed in 1986

Image on reliquary — Abteikirche St. Nikolaus, Brauweiler, Germany
*Photos: M. Vankan*

Small oval with relic — Abteikirche St. Nikolaus, Brauweiler, Germany

Identifying label — Abteikirche St. Nikolaus, Brauweiler, Germanyy

Italy

Bari: Basilica di San Nicola (Roman Catholic)
St. Nicholas’ tomb is in the crypt
Lido of Venice: Chiesa di San Nicoló (Roman Catholic)
Second location of primary relices; smaller bones, missed in Bari sailor’s haste
Rimini: Chiesa di San Nicolo’ al Porto
Humerus (upper am), since the early 12th century
Tortorici: Chiesa di San Nicolò
In the altar

Netherlands

Utrecht: St. Nicolaas Parochie (Roman Catholic)
Maastricht: St. Servasskerk (Roman Catholic)
Meijel: Parochie St. Nicolaas (Roman Catholic)

Relic in sunburst reliquary — Meijel, Netherlands: Parochie St. Nicolaas
*Photo: Marcus Vankan*

Half-figure holding relic box with three gold balls — Bari, Italy: Basilica di San Nicola
*Photo: J Rosenthal*

Gold hand on large stand — Napierville, Quebec, Canada
*Photo:University of Napierville*

Palestine

Beit Jala: St Nicolas Greek Orthodox Church

St Nicolas relic — Beit Jala, Palestine: St Nicholas Orthodox Church
Photos: Irina Pavolva, used by permission

Romania

Targu-Mures: Church of St. Nicholas (Greek Catholic Church)
Given by the St. Nicolas Cathedral in Fribourg, December 5, 2008
Bucharest: Church of New Saint George (Sf Gheorghe Nou) (Orthodox) (right hand)
Given to Prince Michael the Brave by the Archbishop of Bari in 1599

Silver reliquary — Gift to Prince Michael the Brave by the Archbishop of Bari
*Photos:Mystagogy*

Reliquary chest — Kept in the Church of New Saint George, Bucharest

Russia

Reliquary — St. Nicholas relics, Petrozavodsk Diocese

Buzhaninovo: St. Nicholas Church
Granted December 19, 2000
Kazan: Cathedral of the Holy Cross (Orthodox)
Gift of Marquise Immacolata Solaro del Borgo, June 2007
Kemerovo, Siberia: Cathedral of St. Nicholas (Orthodox)
Given by Pope Benedict XVI, December 19, 2008
Petrozavodsk, Karelia: Diocese of Petrozavodsk
Relics travel around the region
St. Petersburg: St Nicholas Naval Cathedral (Orthodox)
Given by Empress Alesandra Fyodorovna, wife of Tsar Nicholas I, following a visit to Bari
St. Petersburg: Church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr (Orthodox)
Stolen from relic icon August 2012

Scotland

Aberdeen: Kirk of St Nicholas
Before the Reformation

Spain

Murcia: Iglesia San Nicolás de Bari y Santa Catalina de Murcia

Switzerland

Fribourg: Cathedral of Saint Nicolas (Roman Catholic)
Brought from Rome ca 1420 to the Cistercian Abbey of Hauterive, then to Fribourg, May 9, 1506

Icon with manna in boat — Nikolauskapelle, Worms Cathedral, Germany
*Photo:* Worms

Manna bottle in boat — New reliquary, 1990
Worms Cathedral, Germany
*Photo: M Vankan*

Ukraine

Irpin: St. Nicholas Church (Ukrainian Orthodox)
Kiev: Church of St Nicholas, National University of State Tax Service of Ukraine (Ukrainian Orthodox)
Kiev: Church of St Nicholas (Roman Catholic)
Manna brought from Bari, gift of the Dominican Fathers, 2002
Lviv: Cerkiew sw. Myukolaya (Ukrainian Orthodox)
Given in the 1500s

United States

Arm Reliquary — This arm reliquary of Saint Nicholas is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection in New York. From around 1315, it is the oldest arm reliquary to survive from Cilicia. The inscription on the wrist, in Armenian: “I, Konstadin katholicos, received this right [arm] of Saint Nicholas with the desire of my heart and gave the order to make this [case for it] for my commemoration at the See of Saint Gregory during the reign of Oshin and his son Levon in the year 774 [1325].”

Annandale, Virginia: Epiphany of Our Lord Byzantine Catholic Church
Flushing, New York: St. Nicholas Shrine Church (Greek Orthodox)
Gift of the Holy See in 1972; Translation casket fragment, skull fragments & manna
Indianapolis, Indiana: St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church
Gift from Bari, Italy, September 25, 2013
Livonia, Michigan: Sacred Heart Byzantine Catholic Church
Morton Grove, Illinois: Shrine of All saints, St. Martha of Bethany Church
A collection representing over 1500 saints, pelvic bone
New York, New York: St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church
Lost when church destroyed, September 11, 2001
Northridge, California: St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church
Brought by priest from Bari, Italy, in 1998
Olyphant, Pennsylvania: St. Nicholas Orthodox Church (Orthodox)
Placed in the new altar in 1947
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, St. Anthony’s Chapel, Troy Hill (Roman Catholic)
Said to have the largest collection of relics (5,000) outside the Vatican, includes 3 St. Nicholas relics
Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, St. Nicholas Orthodox Church
Gifted by the Romanian Bishop in Italy in 2019
Troy, Michigan: Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church (Greek Orthodox)
Gift of a Roman Catholic priest in 1992
West Babylon, New York: St. Nicholas Shrine Greek Orthodox Church (Greek Orthodox)

We do not worship relics any more than we do the sun or moon, the angels, archangels, or seraphims. We honor them in honor of He whose faith the saints gave witness. We honor the Master by means of his servants.
— St. Jerome

Like Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians believe that the grace of God present in the saints’ bodies during life remains active in their relics when they have died, and that God uses these relics as a channel of divine power as an instrument of healing.
— Bishop Kallistos Ware

Wherever relics are kept, you find people praying, and not just in their minds but with their bodies, kneeling or prostrating. There is a powerful sense of heaven and earth rubbing against each other. Pilgrims tend to be people who have overcome the temptation to regard relics with suspicion. They reckon that, in most cases, those who found and preserved relics were people who were careful about the truth and were well aware that committing fraud is a grave sin. Lying has never been a plus point for anyone hoping to get into heaven. And if mistakes were sometimes made, or deceptions arranged by people driven by greed, no matter. God will regard the pilgrim’s reverence for a relic as veneration for what it represents rather than what it is.
— Jim Forest, The Road to Emmaus: Pilgrimage as a Way of Life

Examination of a Relic
A pelvic bone held in Illinois is examined at Oxford University
Traveling Relics
St. Nicholas relics travel from Bari, Italy, to Russia
Relics enshrined in St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, Flushing, NY
Article from the New York Times

More about relics in other sections

Anatomical Examination of the Bari Relics
The only thorough identification and cataloging of the relics
Is St. Nicholas in Venice, too?
Examination of relics in the Lido of Venice
St. Nicholas in the Antalya Museum
Examination of the museum’s bones
The Real Face of St. Nicholas
Forensic reconstruction based on anatomical data
How Saint Nicholas may have looked
Several interpretations based on data and digital techniques

Link

Where’s Santa Buried? Resting Places of the Real St. Nick
from National Geographic