Editing Saint Nicholas (section)

=== Other locations ===
[[File:St Nicholas' Tomb.jpg|thumb|[[Tomb of Saint Nicholas]] near Thomastown, Ireland]]
Because of Nicholas's skeleton's long confinement in Myra, after it was brought to Bari, the demand for pieces of it rose. Small bones quickly began to disperse across western Europe.{{sfn|Seal|2005|pages=135–137}} The sailors who had transported the bones gave one tooth and two fragments chipped from Nicholas's sarcophagus to the Norman knight [[William Pantulf]]. Pantulf took these relics to his hometown of Noron in Normandy, where they were placed in the local Church of St. Peter in June 1092.{{sfn|Seal|2005|page=136}} In 1096, the duke of Apulia gave several bones of Saint Nicholas to the count of [[Flanders]], which he then enshrined in the Abbey of [[Watten, Nord|Watten]].{{sfn|Seal|2005|page=136}} According to legend, in 1101, Saint Nicholas appeared in a vision to a French clerk visiting the shrine at Bari and told him to take one of his bones with him to his hometown of [[Saint-Nicolas-de-Port|Port]], near [[Nancy, France|Nancy]]. The clerk took a finger bone back with him to Port, where a chapel was built to Saint Nicholas.{{sfn|Seal|2005|page=137}} Port became an important center of devotion in the following of Nicholas and, in the fifteenth century, a church known as the [[Saint-Nicolas, Saint-Nicolas-de-Port|Basilique Saint-Nicolas]] was built there dedicated to him.{{sfn|Seal|2005|page=137}} The town itself is now known as "Saint Nicolas de Port" in honor of Nicholas.{{sfn|Lendering|2006|page=Medieval Saint}}

The clergy at Bari strategically gave away samples of Nicholas's bones to promote the following and enhance its prestige. Many of these bones were initially kept in Constantinople,{{sfn|Seal|2005|page=137}} but, after the [[Sack of Constantinople (1204)|Sack of Constantinople]] in 1204 during the [[Fourth Crusade]], these fragments were scattered across western Europe. A hand claimed to belong to Saint Nicholas was kept in the [[San Nicola in Carcere]] in Rome.{{sfn|Seal|2005|page=137}} This church, whose name means "Saint Nicholas in Chains", was built on the site of a former municipal prison. Stories quickly developed about Nicholas himself having been held in that prison.{{sfn|English|2016|page=133}} Mothers would come to the church to pray to Saint Nicholas for their jailed sons to be released and repentant criminals would place [[votive offerings]] in the church.{{sfn|English|2016|page=133}} As a result of this, Nicholas became the patron saint of prisoners and those falsely accused of crimes.{{sfn|English|2016|page=133}} An index finger claimed to belong to Saint Nicholas was kept in a chapel along the Ostian Way in Rome. Another finger was held in [[Ventimiglia]] in [[Liguria]].{{sfn|Seal|2005|page=137}} Today, many churches in Europe, Russia, and the United States claim to possess small relics, such as a tooth or a finger bone.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/relics/ |publisher=Saint Nicholas Center |title=Relics of St. Nicholas – Where are They? |access-date=11 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213190227/http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/relics/ |archive-date=13 December 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Cullen|2017}}

An Irish tradition states that the relics of Saint Nicholas are also reputed to have been stolen from Myra by local Norman crusading knights in the twelfth century and buried near [[Thomastown, County Kilkenny|Thomastown]], [[County Kilkenny]], where a stone slab marks the reputed "[[Tomb of Saint Nicholas]]".<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.heritagecouncil.ie/fileadmin/user_upload/conservationplans/Newton_Jerpoint.pdf| page= 81| title= Heritage Conservation Plan: Newtown Jerpoint County Kilkenny| publisher= An Chomhairle Oidhreachta/The Heritage Council| year= 2007| url-status= dead| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161012183822/http://www.heritagecouncil.ie/fileadmin/user_upload/conservationplans/Newton_Jerpoint.pdf| archive-date= 12 October 2016| access-date= 2 March 2017| df= dmy-all}}</ref> According to the Irish antiquarian [[John Hunt (antiquarian)|John Hunt]], the tomb probably actually belongs to a local priest from [[Jerpoint Abbey]].{{sfn|Hunt|1974}}

[[Russian Orthodox Church]] announced on 22 September 2024 that [[Holy Myrrhbearers Cathedral]] in [[Baku]] received a part of Nicholas' relic as a gift.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Бакинскому кафедральному собору передана частица мощей святителя Николая Чудотворца |trans-title=A particle of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was handed over to the Baku Cathedral |url=https://www.pravoslavie.az/newses/news/?id=14863 |access-date=2024-10-08 |website=www.pravoslavie.az |language=ru}}</ref>