Editing Saint Nicholas (section)

=== Scientific analysis ===
[[File:Saint Nicholas.jpg|thumb|upright|18th-century [[Russian icon]] at [[Kizhi]] [[monastery]], [[Karelia]]]]
Whereas the devotional importance of [[relic]]s and the economics associated with pilgrimages caused the remains of most saints to be divided up and spread over numerous churches in several countries, Saint Nicholas is unusual in that most of his bones have been preserved in one spot: his grave crypt in Bari. Even with the allegedly continuing miracle of the manna, the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bari-Bitonto|archdiocese of Bari]] has allowed for one scientific survey of the bones.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/anatomical-examination/ |publisher=Saint Nicholas Center |title=Anatomical Examination of the Bari Relics |access-date=6 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211204409/http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/anatomical-examination/ |archive-date=11 December 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the late 1950s, while the [[crypt]] was undergoing much-needed restoration, the bones were removed from it for the first time since their interment in 1089. A special Pontiffical Commission permitted Luigi Martino, a professor of human anatomy at the [[University of Bari]], to examine the bones under the commission's supervision.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2018|page=163}} Martino took thousands of measurements, detailed scientific drawings, photographs, and x-rays.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2018|page=163}} These examinations revealed the saint to have died at over seventy years of age and to have been of average height and slender-to-average build. He also suffered from severe chronic [[arthritis]] in his spine and pelvis.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2018|page=163}}

In 2004, at the [[University of Manchester]], researchers Caroline Wilkinson and Fraco Introna reconstructed the saint's face based on Martino's examination.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2018|page=163}} The review of the data revealed that the historical Saint Nicholas was {{height|ft=5|in=6}} in height and had a broken nose, which had partially healed, revealing that the injury had been suffered ''ante mortem''.<ref name="face">{{cite web|title=The Real Face of St. Nicholas|url=http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/real-face/|website=St Nicholas Center|access-date=15 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161204135142/http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/real-face/|archive-date=4 December 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="face2">{{cite news| url=http://www.atlanticproductions.tv/productions/specials/the-real-face-of-santa/| title=The Real Face of Santa| access-date=12 November 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112165250/http://www.atlanticproductions.tv/productions/specials/the-real-face-of-santa/| archive-date=12 November 2014| url-status=live}} (navigate to 4th of 4 pictures)</ref> The broken nose appeared to conform with hagiographical reports that Saint Nicholas had been beaten and tortured during the [[Diocletianic Persecution]].{{sfn|Wilkinson|2018|page=163}} The facial reconstruction was produced by Caroline Wilkinson at the University of Manchester and was shown on a BBC2 TV program ''The Real Face of Santa''.<ref name="face"/><ref name="face2"/> In 2014, the Face Lab at [[Liverpool John Moores University]] produced an updated reconstruction of Saint Nicholas's face.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2018|page=163}}

In 2017, two researchers from [[Oxford University]], Professor Tom Higham and Doctor Georges Kazan, [[Radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon dated]] a fragment of a pelvis claimed to belong to Saint Nicholas. The fragment originally came from a church in [[Lyon, France]]{{sfn|University of Oxford|2017}}{{sfn|Coughlan|2017}}{{sfn|Cullen|2017}} and, at the time of testing, was in the possession of Father Dennis O'Neill, a priest from St Martha of Bethany Church in Illinois.{{sfn|University of Oxford|2017}}{{sfn|Coughlan|2017}}{{sfn|Cullen|2017}} The results of the radiocarbon dating confirmed that the pelvis dates to the fourth century AD, around the same time that Saint Nicholas would have died, and is not a medieval forgery.{{sfn|University of Oxford|2017}}{{sfn|Coughlan|2017}}{{sfn|Cullen|2017}} The bone was one of the oldest the Oxford team had ever examined.

According to Professor Higham, most of the relics the team has examined turn out to be too recent to have actually belonged to the saint to whom they are attributed, but he states, "This bone fragment, in contrast, suggests that we could possibly be looking at remains from St Nicholas himself."{{sfn|University of Oxford|2017}} Kazan believes the pelvis fragment may come from the same individual as the skeleton divided between the churches in Bari and Venice,{{sfn|University of Oxford|2017}}{{sfn|Coughlan|2017}}{{sfn|Cullen|2017}} since the bone they tested comes from the left [[pubis (bone)|pubis]], and the only pelvis bone in the collection at Bari is the left [[Ilium (bone)|ilium]].{{sfn|University of Oxford|2017}} In the absence of DNA testing, however, it is not yet possible to know for certain whether the pelvis is from the same man.{{sfn|Coughlan|2017}}{{sfn|Cullen|2017}}