Faith

A detail of a Nativity scene displayed in St. Peter's Square is seen in an exhibit at the Vatican Dec. 17, 2024. CNS photo/Justin McLellan

Formed in Christ

Friday, December 20, 2024Faith

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As Christmas moved with Christianity, the creche provided the new Christians with an opportunity to add themselves to the Christian mystery, as they already had been through Holy Baptism.

Father Robert M.
O'Grady

Christmas traditions abound -- around the globe, in various nations, among various peoples, and even in neighborhoods and families.
Here are a few. From Italy, we have La Befana, the Christmas Witch, the Presepe, and the Seven Fishes. Iceland has the Yule Lads. Germany has more than a few, including the Christmas or Yule Tree and Knecht Ruprecht, the Christmas Helper. Did you know that our candles in the windows came from Ireland?
Since so much is going on in this season -- remember the 12 Days of Christmas are Dec. 26 through Jan. 6 -- I came across one unifying feature, common literally across the globe, eastern and western, northern and southern hemispheres: the Christmas creche.
The variations on the theme seem to have their origin with St. Francis of Assisi. Francis seems to have begun with a combination of live and sculpted figures in Greccio, Italy. The sculptures were the Infant, Mary and Joseph. The various other figures were portrayed by villagers or city folk who simply came as themselves. The scene could, thus, vary daily.
The scenes, as we now generally call them, changed as they moved from place to place, first within Italy, and then as the Franciscan Friars took them on missionary journeys, and later from other parts of Europe as other missioners and migrants took them as they moved towards the ends of the earth.

The more exuberant and extensive scenes seem to have developed around Naples, Italy. There is a whole industry of "Presepi." You can get a simple set of the Holy Family or whole villages, and they come in various heights, all the way to life-size. Some are hand-carved wood, some are fashioned from clay and painted, or wooden or clay and dressed in the attire of the local communities and their inhabitants and their livelihoods. New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has one of the more famous ones displayed every Christmas season. If you are in the Big Apple in December or January, it's not to be missed.
France made an early entry into the creche movement with the "Santons of Provence," hand-shaped and hand-painted clay figurines, beginning with the Holy Family, adding animals, shepherds, and kings and, again, local people. These, too, come in various sizes.
When the initial crib scenes moved to other places, they followed the example and simply made the scenes their own -- that is, the figures resembled the people of the area where they were fashioned and displayed.
As Christmas moved with Christianity, the creche provided the new Christians with an opportunity to add themselves to the Christian mystery, as they already had been through Holy Baptism.
Following those early examples, the nations and peoples of North America, South America, Central America, Australia, Asia, and Africa, in their great mosaic of peoples and cultures, have all fashioned scenes in which the Incarnate Word is incarnated among their people.
You probably have a creche dear to you, your family, or your parish.
At the same time, you might want to see what others have done with their creches.
If you are in the South End of Boston, there is a new creche on display outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. The Pastoral Center of the archdiocese in Braintree has its set up in the lobby. The Sister Disciples of the Divine Master bring their artistic eye to arranging this annual display.
If you want to see a life size creche, Bishop Robert Reed, Father Timothy Kearney, and the folks of St. Patrick, Watertown, have theirs in front of the parish church on Main Street.
Many of our parishes have creches, often both inside and outside the churches.
There are creche collectors and societies of these collectors, locally, nationally, and internationally. Most of them have readily available websites on the internet.
The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in nearby Attleboro is noted for its spectacular Christmas displays across New England and beyond. The shrine has always displayed an extensive collection of creche scenes from around the globe.
The Sisters of Charity of Halifax had a significant collection of creches in the lobby of their chapel at Mount St. Vincent, Wellesley. The scenes, from many nations where the sisters served, visited or received as gifts, filled more than a dozen six-shelved glass display cases with the creches. The sisters recently donated their entire collection to the Attleboro shrine, augmenting an already impressive collection.
A Christmas trek to the shrine will explain much more clearly than this article just how much Christmas has become part of the fabric of the Catholic Church across the globe. Before you go, check this link: lasaletteattleboroshrine.org.
Happy Christmas and a prosperous Jubilee Holy Year -- 2025!