St. Nicholas is believed to have been the bishop of Myra, now in the present-day Antalya Province of Turkey.
He is credited with helping three impoverished girls escape destitution by providing dowries, and also restoring three children to life after being dismembered by a butcher. He became the patron saint of various countries and groups, including Galway, charitable fraternities and guilds, children, sailors, wine vintners, merchants, and pawnbrokers. Following the Reformation, his veneration diminished in Protestant European countries, except for in the Netherlands, where he was called Sinterklaas. Dutch settlers brought this tradition to New Amsterdam (now New York City), and English-speaking Americans adopted him as Santa Claus.
Within the church there is an Icon of St. Nicholas which was commissioned by Ronnie O’Gorman in memory of his mother Joy Elizabeth Hackett, and completed in 2024 by UK-based iconographer Peter Murphy.
Within the triptych, the central figure is St Nicholas of Myra, Patron Saint of Galway, robed in his Orthodox episcopal vestments, carrying a closed copy of the Gospel in one hand and blessing the viewer with the other. On the side panels are scenes of four miracles associated with the saint:
The icon is painted in egg tempera in the traditional Byzantine style, whereby the darker local tones of all the figures, buildings, landscape etc, are painted in dark neutral colours, the modelling then done with successive layers of highlighting, as the iconographer literally pulls the light of the forms out of the darkness and chaos of the first layers of mineral pigments. The backgrounds and halos of the figures are gilded using almost pure gold leaf in the ancient manner, gold representing the uncreated light of God as witnessed by the disciples at the moment of the Transfiguration of Christ on Mt Tabor.
Take a tour of the church and walk through the ancient aisles with an historian, or climb the famous bell tower and ring the ancient bells for all of Galway to hear.
