Moral relativism in the medieval church: St Nicholas

Today's the feast of St. Nicholas, the 4th-century bishop of Myra (that's in present-day Turkey). I thought it suitable to share with you a story from the life of the saint whose name I bear (as my middle name).  There were many lives of St. Nicholas written in the Middle Ages, but Jacobus de Voragine's account in his Golden Legend (c. 1260, a medieval …