The man who built the first Christmas crib

The rain had barely stopped, but it was not exceptionally cold. Giovanni (John) noticed that the days were becoming shorter, and the wet season kept the town visitors out. This was the last week of November, and he knew that when December sets in the cold wave would once again hit the region. But it did not matter, because the cold weather was associated with Christmas. And the religious and festive feeling somehow made the weather bearable. After all, January, the coldest month of the year, was still a month away.

John was of noble origin, born to the landed Vellita family. He was a military man and a lord in his town. To be sure, his youth was spent in the pursuit of happiness that society expected of the nobility, albeit in a guarded manner to protect his family name. But in his adulthood the pursuit of material happiness gave way to the pursuit of spiritual happiness. He had fallen under the spell of a very holy man who had devoted his life to preach peace, with whom he had become friends. To manifest his devotion to his new-found friend he renounced all worldly honors. His friend, much earlier, had renounced all worldly honors and possessions and took the vow to live in poverty.

Usually John would spend the early weeks of December just waiting out the cold season and preparing for the Christmas day. There was not much fuss about Christmas then because there were only a few traditions. But 15 days before Christmas of this particular year John was exceptionally busy. He had received from his friend this urgent suggestion: “If you desire that we should celebrate this year’s Christmas together at Greccio, go quickly and prepare what I tell you; for I want to enact the memory of the Infant who was born at Bethlehem and how He was bedded in the manger on hay between a donkey and an ox. I want to see all of this with my own eyes.”

Greccio is a town sitting on top of a hill some 705 m (2,313 ft.) above sea level. It is located 16 kilometers northwest of the province of Rieti, in the Lazio Region, situated in the heart of Italy. The year was 1223, and the peace-preaching man was Francesco (Francis) who hailed from the town of Assisi. Francis was 41 years old and was of noble origins and a former military man, like John. It was in one of his preaching tours that they had met. Their common upbringing and the economic status of their families, as well as their belonging to the same age bracket helped promote their friendship. But the special task that Giovanni would accomplish this Christmas would deepen their bond of friendship.

Francesco d’Assisi or Francis of Assisi had founded a religious movement that became a religious order through a Papal Bull by Pope Honorius III in 1223. Francis was in Rome for the approval of the Papal Bull, and from there in December he visited Greccio. He stayed at the Fonte Columbo hermitage where he decided to bring the nativity of Christ closer to the people of Greccio. The question was how he would do it. He then recalled that in the year 1220 he had visited Bethlehem and was moved by the way Christmas was celebrated there, with the manger taking the center stage. How he wished the people of this Italian village could experience Christmas in Bethlehem. But the Palestine region was unsafe for travel. The Fifth Crusade to the Holy Land had just ended, and there were serious talks about a Sixth Crusade. So Francis thought: Instead of the people going to the Holy Land to see the manger why not bring the manger to Greccio?

Deeply motivated Francis met with John, who by now had also become his benefactor. It was at this meeting that he vouched the idea of recreating the birth of Christ right there in Greccio, using a manger, some hay, a donkey and an ox. His suggestion was accepted as a challenge without question. Now, there were only 15 days left before Christmas, thus the task put in the hands of John was urgent.

Up in the hills of Greccio was a cave that was barely visited by the town’s small population. The tranquillity engendered by the forest lush, the carefree birds, the chirping insects, the animals in free range pasture and the cool breeze made the cave an ideal place for the nativity re-enactment project. And so it was instantly agreed that the cave would be the venue for the installation of the first Christmas Crib.

Under the leadership of John many residents of Greccio worked tirelessly to complete the project by Christmas. A manger was hewn out of a rock sitting inside the cave. Hay was laid on the manger to allow the baby figure made of stone to rest firmly on it. Animals, an ox and an ass, were prepared for the occasion. When the time drew near, Francis inspected it and felt great joy. Now he could see with his own eyes the image of Jesus in a manger surrounded by animals, a re-enactment of the memory of the birth of the poor and humble Saviour. Greccio was to become a new Bethlehem.

The Christmas Eve celebration at the cave took place on the night of December 23, 1223. It was a moonless night. The Franciscan brothers from the towns in the region and the people of Greccio flocked to the forest bringing torches and candles. The place was flooded with lights.

Tomas of Celano, a contemporary of Francis, records what happened that evening:

“The day of gladness drew nigh, the time of exultation arrived. The brethren were summoned from many places; the men and women of that town with exulting hearts prepared tapers and torches, as they were able to illuminate that night... Later the Saint of God (Francis of Assisi) came, and finding all things prepared, beheld them and rejoiced. The manger had been made ready, the hay ass were led in.

“There Simplicity was honored, Poverty exalted, Humility commended; and Greccio was made as if it were a new Bethlehem. The night was lit up as the day, and was delightful to men and beasts. The people came, and at the new Mystery rejoiced... The woodland rang with voices, the rocks made answer to the jubilant throng. The brethren sang, yielding due praises to the Lord, and all that night resounded with jubilation. The Saint of God stood before the manger, full of sighs, overcome with tenderness and filled with wondrous joy. The solemnities of Mass were celebrated over the manger, and the priest enjoyed a new consolation.

“The Saint of God was vested with as a Deacon, for he was indeed a Deacon, and with sonorous voice chanted the holy Gospel — an earnest, sweet, clear and loud-sounding voice; inviting all to the highest rewards. Then he preached to the people who stood around, and uttered melodious words concerning the birth of the poor King and the little town of Bethlehem. (And often, when he would name Christ Jesus, aglow with exceeding love he would call Him the Child of Bethlehem, and, uttering the word ‘Bethlehem’ in the manner of a sheep bleating, he filled his mouth with the sound, but even more his whole self with the sweet affection. Moreover, in naming ‘the Child of Bethlehem’ or ‘Jesus’ he would, as it were, lick his lips, relishing with happy palate, and swallowing the sweetness of that word.) There the gifts of the Almighty were multiplied, and a wondrous vision was seen by one man: in the manger he saw a little child lying lifeless, but as the Saint of God went near it, he seemed to rouse the child from the lethargy of sleep. This vision was not incongruous; for the child Jesus had been forgotten in the hearts of many, but, by the working of His Grace, He was raised up again through His servant Francis and remembered.”

Saint Bonaventure, another biographer of Francis, wrote this account: “Many brothers and good people came at Francis’s bidding, and during the night the weather also was beautiful. Many lights were kindled, songs and hymns were sung with great solemnity so that the whole wood echoed with the sound, and the man of God stood by the manger, filled with the utmost joy, and shedding tears of devotion and compassion. By his order the manger had been so arranged that Mass was celebrated on it, and blessed Francis...sang the gospel and preached to the people on the Nativity of Christ our King, and whenever he pronounced his name with infinite tenderness he called Him the ‘little Babe of Bethlehem.”

By the account of the biographers it is said that Francis had conceived the idea of the Christmas Crib before he went to Greccio. When he was in Rome for the promulgation of the Papal Bull that formalized the institution of the Order of Friars Minor he also sought and obtained the permission of the Supreme Pontiff to recreate the Christmas Crib. He asked permission so the Christmas Crib will not look like his own innovation. In fact it was, but Francis was a humble man to a fault.

As it turned out, the Papal Blessing facilitated the institution of a Christian tradition and devotion. The idea of recreating Bethlehem spread all over Italy and throughout the Christian world. The Christmas Crib became an attraction in homes, churches, public squares. The image of the Infant Jesus and the animals were made up of various materials: stone, metal, wood, paper and clay. In time, the images of May and Joseph, the Three Wise Men from the East, and an angel near a bright star at the top of the crib were added.

Besides the Christmas Crib, the use of the Christmas lights became popular. In Greccio, the people brought torches and candles in such numbers that “the night was lit up as the day,” according to Thomas of Celano.

The modern Christian world displays the Christmas Crib as a mandatory fixture to mark an important season. However, its commercialization has clouded the original intent of St. Francis of Assisi, which is: “To represent the birth of that Child in Bethlehem in such a way that with our bodily eyes we may see what He suffered for lack of the necessities of a newborn babe and how He lay in a manger between the ox and ass”. Pope Benedict XVI, in a message during the Advent of 2005, has suggested maintaining the tradition of the Christmas Crib as a weapon in the fight against the “commercial pollution” that threatens to change the authentic spirit of Christmas. While the crib’s revival is often characterized by nostalgia and sentimentalism, the Pope said that it nevertheless helps “to understand the secret of the true Christmas, because it speaks of the humility and of the merciful goodness of Christ, who although he was rich, because poor for us.”

The Christian world owes the devotion to the Christmas Crib to St. Francis of Assisi who popularized it to give life to the gospel message: “And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger”. (Luke 2:12).

 (Acknowledgment: The First Legend by Thomas of Celano; Life of St. Francis by St. Bonaventure; Various Franciscan and Vatican sources.)