The History of the Nativity

“𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝑩𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒍𝒆𝒉𝒆𝒎, 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒚, 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒙 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒃𝒚." - St Francis of Assisi

Because of his special & deep devotion to the Child Jesus, St Francis of Assisi visited the historical place of Christ's birth on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land—the humble stable in a Bethlehem cave. It was during this visit that St Francis was first inspired to create the Nativity Scene. On Christmas Eve 1223 during a special ritual & Mass he held inside of a cave in Greccio, Italy, St. Francis recreated the scene of Christ's birth & invited both his fellow friars & the townspeople to join in the celebration.

Through these visual aids he wanted everyone to grow more deeply in their understanding of how Christ came into the world in such poverty and simplicity. It is also said that St. Francis was inspired to recreate the original nativity scene to overcome the rampant greed and materialism prevalent at that time in Italy.

The three wise men (Magi) weren’t there at the birth of Baby Jesus. They didn’t visit until 12 days after. (More on this on the Feast Day of Epiphany)

(ᴍᴜꜱɪᴄ ʙᴏx ʜᴀɴᴅ ᴄᴀʀᴠᴇᴅ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴡᴏᴏᴅ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴀᴄʀᴇᴅ ᴏʟɪᴠᴇ ᴛʀᴇᴇ ɪɴ ʙᴇᴛʜʟᴇʜᴇᴍ & ɪɴᴄʟᴜᴅᴇꜱ ꜱᴏɪʟ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴏʟʏ ʟᴀɴᴅ)