Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and there’s a piece of him right here in Annandale

This gold statue holds a relic from St. Nicholas. [Matt Blitz/DCist]

The Epiphany of Our Lord Byzantine Catholic Church on Woodburn Road in Annandale has a bone fragment from the real St. Nicholas who inspired the Santa Claus legend, according to a Dec. 20 story in the DCist news site.

The relic, which was authenticated by the Vatican, consists of a brownish speck inside a small, ornate gold statue. St. Nicholas is the church’s patron saint.

The real St. Nicholas was reportedly born in the city of Myrna in what is now Turkey, around the year 280 and was known for doing good works. The transformation of St. Nicholas into the white-bearded, red-coated jolly St. Nick, aka Santa Claus, happened centuries later.

According to the DCist, Father Deacon Elmer Pekarik doesn’t know how or when the Epiphany of Our Lord church acquired the bone fragment, only that it was donated at some point between 1973 and 2011.

The church also has a vial of “manna,” which the article describes as “a sweet-smelling, mysterious liquid that is thought to have exuded from the tomb of St. Nicholas.”