O Come Let Us Adore Him…
By Mary Jeppson
And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, for there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:7)
I can’t even imagine being in that scene. Traveling far from home on the back of a donkey
instead of a nice vehicle with heated seats and having no comfortable place for the birth of your child like the birthing suites available in hospitals today. This scene, however, is what is known as the nativity scene. Have you ever wondered where the tradition of having a nativity scene came from?
In the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, there is a grotto with a marble floor and a silver star to mark the spot of the birth of Jesus. In this place there is no manger. However, in the Church of St. Mary Major in Rome there are five boards of sycamore wood from the Middle East that have been traditionally referred to as the crib of Bethlehem. There has been a chapel since the fifth century at St. Mary Major which is a replica of the cave at Bethlehem and was built to house those boards. St. Mary Major has another title of St. Mary of the Manger. In the Nativity Chapel you will find the oldest existing devotional reconstruction of the stable of Bethlehem. It is also the site of the first papal Mass at Christmas since the seventh century.
For over six hundred years St Mary Major was the only church which had a manger setup. However, in 1223, St. Francis of Assisi set up a living nativity scene in the church of Greccio in Italy. The Franciscans promoted these scenes for churches and in time they were expected to be in churches everywhere. They eventually became matters of local pride. They became elaborate and were collected by royalty. They were to become important folk art in Portugal and Austria and southern Italy. The Franciscans then encouraged people to have the nativity in their homes.
The nativity scene traditionally has the Child in the manger, Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and angel, the Three Wise Men , sheep, camels, cattle and the donkey. All brought to this place to adore our Lord Jesus Christ.
This Christmas as you are celebrating the birth of our Lord, sharing gifts and having family dinners, gather round your Nativity Scene and Adore Him…Christ the newborn King.
Why Catholics Do That?
Kevin Orlin Johnson, PhD
Ballantine Books, 1994