It begins with a dream. Brother Nicephorus dreams that St. Nicholas of Myra visits him with a vague message of courage and hope. The city of Bari is suffering from some kind of plague and any kind of sign from above is welcome. But when Nicephorus tells his abbot about the dream, the abbot cooks up a brand-new scheme: to steal the bones of St. Nicholas. This, M.T. Anderson’s blasphemously comical novel, Nicked, begins.
Brother Nicephorus is absolutely horrified by his abbot’s plan to steal the saint’s bones.He’s pretty sure that the relic hunters hired by the abbot and the grandees of Bari are thieves, and might not be Christians at all. And he’s definitely not thrilled to be despatched along with the relic hunters so that everyone can be sure, when they return, that the bones are authentic. There is real history in this story. Some of St. Nicholas’s bones are in Italy, after they were stolen from St. Nicholas Church in Myra (now Demre) in 1087 CE. Other bones from the saint are in Venice. Still others have been scattered across Europe because they are believed to possess healing powers.
Being out in the world is eye-opening for Brother Nicephorus, who has been cloistered away in his monestary since he was very young. He is frequently horified by Tyun, the head of a group of relic hunters from around the known world. Tyun has the gift of gab and never met a lie he couldn’t sell. Proximity—and the threats of rival relic hunters from Venice and the Seljuk Turks who have recently appeared in Anatolia to threaten the Byzantine Empire—starts to soften Nicephorus. By the time the motley gang arrives in Myra, he’s unbent enough to help here and there, even though he’s still not thrilled about the whole caper in the first place.
Unfortunately for Nicephorus, he’s about to be shocked even more when he discovers what’s been happening at St. Nicholas’s church in Myra. Savvier people (like Tyun) than he would be more acquainted with the roaring trade in relics and miracles. The faithful can make pilgrimages and pray and, for coin, carry away something more tangible from the graves of the saints. The trade of course got out of hand. I found quotes from Erasmus, John Calvin, Martin Luther, and Washington Irving poking fun at just how many splinters of the True Cross there seem to be. Nicephorus is a much more unquestioning sort—at least until he starts hanging out with Tyun and his crew. Poor Nicephorus has his faith tested constantly.
Traveling with Nicephorus in Nicked provides plenty of opportunities for us readers to reflect on the nature of miracles and faith. There are so many unscrupulous characters who are more than willing to lie, destroy, and even kill that perhaps the real miracle in this tale is that Nicephorus can hang on to even a few of his beliefs.