"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" is a line from an editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church titled "Is There a Santa Claus?", which appeared in the New York newspaper The Sun on September 21, 1897, and became one of the most famous editorials ever published. Written in response to a letter by eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon asking whether Santa Claus was real, the editorial was initially published anonymously and Church's authorship was not disclosed until after his 1906 death. As the editorial became popular over the years, The Sun began republishing it during the Christmas season, including every year from 1924 to 1950, when the paper ceased publication. "Is There a Santa Claus?" is widely reprinted during the Christmas and holiday season and has been cited as the most reprinted newspaper editorial in the English language. It has been translated into around 20 languages and adapted as a film, television presentations, a musical, and a cantata. Background Francis Pharcellus Church Francis Pharcellus Church (February 22, 1839April 11, 1906) was an American publisher and editor. He and his brother William Conant Church founded and edited several publications: The Army and Navy Journal in 1863, The Galaxy (1866), and the Internal Revenue Record and Customs Journal (1870). Before the outbreak of the American Civil War he had worked in journalism, first at his father's New-York Chronicle and later at the New York newspaper The Sun. Church left The Sun in the early 1860s but returned to work there part-time in 1874. After The Galaxy merged with The Atlantic Monthly in 1878 he joined The Sun's staff full-time as an editor and writer. Church wrote thousands of editorials at the paper, and became known for his writing on religious topics from a secular point of view. After Church's death, his friend J. R. Duryee wrote that Church "by nature and training was reticent about himself, highly sensitive and retiring". The Sun In 1897, The Sun was one of the most prominent newspapers in New York City, having been developed by its long-time editor, Charles Anderson Dana, over the previous thirty years. Their editorials that year were described by scholar W. Joseph Campbell as favoring "vituperation and personal attack". Campbell also wrote that the paper was reluctant to republish content. Writing and publication In 1897, Philip O'Hanlon, a surgeon, was asked by his eight-year-old daughter, Virginia O'Hanlon, whether Santa Claus existed. His answer did