One of this nation’s most enduring Christmas tales is the reply by Francis P. Church, editorial writer for the New York Sun, to a letter from little Virginia O’Hanlon of Manhattan, asking if there was ...

More than a century ago, an 8-year-old named Virginia O’Hanlon had a question weighing on her mind. Were her friends correct when they said, “There is no Santa Claus”? She decided to write a letter to ...

At a time when many Americans are on edge, it seems appropriate to revisit one of the best arguments for faith and hope, and against skepticism and close-minded certitude. Written in 1897, the words ...

Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see.

Today, Christmas Eve, we continue our tradition of republishing a 19th century New York editorial writer’s passionate defense of Santa Claus. The journalist Francis P. Church, a native of Rochester, ...