If you follow the gravel path up the north side of the quarry pond, you will find a small wooden boat set vertically with an icon of a white-bearded bishop inside. This bishop is St. Nicholas, and he is in a boat because he is the patron saint of sea-farers. Known to most of the world as “Santa Claus,” St. Nicholas served the Church as a faithful shepherd of Christ in the 4th century. His title was Bishop of Myra in Lycea, a region located in modern-day Turkey.

St. Nicholas is also the patron saint of children, repentant theives, and the wrongfully-accused.