Nicholas was a Confessor—one who confessed Christ publicly in times of persecution, remaining faithful despite imprisonment, torture or exile. In the Middle Ages Saint Nicholas, along with Martin of Tours, was celebrated as a true people's saint because of the way he lived.
This was unusual as most early saints were martyrs who had died for their faith. Nicholas was surely an early example of a saint who was honored for the witness of his life. Nicholas was a saint whose life bore witness to God's work through a life of social value, lived carrying out God's will. Both Nicholas and Martin lived to an old age and died peacefully. This may be one reason they were so very popular: They were examples of how to live, rather than how to die in times of persecution.
Therefore Nicholas does not have a date for formal canonization. Rather, the record shows a gradual spread of reverence until a widespread level of recognition and practice established him as a saint everywhere. He was listed on diocesan saints' calendars and eventually included in the normative calendars of the whole church, both east and west.
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