In 1087 two Italian cities, Venice and Bari, raced to be the first to steal the bones of St. Nicholas from his tomb

In 1087 two Italian cities, Venice and Bari , raced to be the first to steal the bones of St. Nicholas .

The historical Nicholas was bishop of Myra , a merchant city on the Turquoise Coast at the edge of the Mediterranean and Aegean seas.

He was supposedly imprisoned and tortured during the Great Persecution of the Emperor Diocletian .

St. Nicholas ’ body had lain under the floor of their church for 700 years .

The thieves decided it was time to use force to break into the tomb.

They grabbed the four guardians and tied them up.

They asked their own priests to sing a few chants, asking Nicholas for permission to steal him.

Frida Ghitis: St. Nicholas was stolen from the city of Myra in 1090s by Italian sailors.

She says the city was overrun by the Seljuk Turks, and the city thrived as invasion forces supplied themselves at the port of Bari .

Ghitis says the heist was the beginning of two centuries of senseless bloodshed in Middle East that forever tainted MuslimChristian relations.