Saint Nicholas lived in the fourth century. After his death, Italian merchants tried to bring his body from the city of Myra in Turkey to the city of Bari in southern Italy.
The saint was famous for performing many miracles, so the Italians built the Temple of Saint Nicholas and displayed his relics there. Since then, until 2017, the relic has never left Italy. Believers in Russia, whether Catholic or Orthodox, have a special admiration for him. Every year many pilgrims travel from Russia to Italy to pray with the saint.
On February 12, 2016, in the stateroom of Cuba's Havana airport, Pope Francis had a historic meeting with Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church. On this occasion, the Patriarch asked the Holy Father to lend the relic of Saint Nicholas to the Russian Orthodox faithful.
From May 22 to July 28, the saint's relics were displayed at the Cathedral of Christ the Redeemer in Moscow, and then carried to the city of Petersburg. The Russians love the saint even more.
Znamya Truda High School of the Catholic archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow has reported the following extraordinary story:
On July 4, during a training session, 16-year-old goalkeeper Ivan Zaborovsky of the FC Znamya Truda football team was suddenly struck by lightning when he was just leading the ball to the goal.
The pictures you and your brother are seeing here capture this event clearly. Everyone thought I was dead. However, three weeks later, she was back on the field after family, parish and friends prayed with St. Nicholas.
Ivan Zaborovsky says:
The last thing I remember is that I left the house to go to practice. That's all I can remember. Then I woke up in the hospital.
Coach Anton Basov is happy to see you back. He was overjoyed and reported the following:
“It was around 3:15, we heard a loud bang. We all turned around and saw Ivan lying on the ground. We ran to her. Consider hitting that place, where you're being trained. Near the boundary line, right in front of the 16m50 round. That's where the accident happened. When we ran over, we saw her lying face down, we turned her over. My shirt was ripped in front of my chest. Not torn, but like burnt. We tried to resuscitate her.”
Ivan was taken to the hospital. Many people worry that I will die or if I live, I will be crazy and crazy because of this terrible lightning strike.
However, thanks to the prayers of family, friends and the parish, Ivan made a full recovery within just three weeks. This lucky story caused a Russian third-tier team to notice her and invite Ivan to sign a contract. It is a great hope for my future.
Source: VietcatholicNews