First Ever Nativity Scene! Dates from the 1200s. Check it out.

There is a nativity scene made of marble that was commissioned by Pope Nicholas IV in 1292. Prior to this, St. Francis introduced the idea of people re-enacting the nativity, but this is the first time it was made in the form of a sculpture. It has seen many great saints throughout the centuries and is located at St. Mary Major, one of the 4 major basilicas in Catholicism.

I will copy and paste the article from Catholic News Agency Below the Images.

Article from Catholic News Agency:

First known nativity scene figurines can now be seen in St. Mary Major Basilica

By Courtney Mares

Rome Newsroom, Dec 23, 2020 / 11:00 am MT (CNA).- The first known nativity scene figurines are on display this Christmas in one of Rome’s oldest basilicas.

The underground Chapel of the Nativity in the Basilica of St. Mary Major -- known to Italians as Santa Maria Maggiore -- once contained at least six marble nativity statues sculpted by Arnolfo di Cambio in the late 13th century.

From Dec. 22, the public will be able to view these nativity figurines in the Marian basilica’s Sistine chapel, located to the right of the main altar.

The figurines were commissioned in 1292 by Pope Nicholas IV, the first Franciscan pope, who was inspired by St. Francis of Assisi, creator of the first living nativity in Greccio, Italy, in 1223.

Sante Guido, an art historian and professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University, told EWTN that five of the marble statues in the nativity scene today are completely original to the 13th century.

This means that this nativity scene was present when St. Cajetan experienced an apparition of the Child Jesus in the Chapel of the Nativity on Christmas night in 1517 and when St. Ignatius of Loyola chose to offer his first Mass in this chapel in 1538.

It is unclear how many figures in total made up the nativity scene commissioned by Nicholas IV, but the marble figures that exist today of St. Joseph, the three Magi, and a single work depicting both a cow and a donkey are part of the original set, according to Guido.

The statue of the Virgin Mary enthroned with the baby Jesus underwent significant restoration in the late 16th century, he explained.

The Italian art historian and restorer noted that this is not the first depiction of Christ’s birth in Christian history, but the first nativity scene in the form as it is known today.

“In the history of Christianity there are many depictions of the nativity of Christ, of course, even on the early Christian sarcophagi, but also in the Romanesque cathedrals and in the Gothic cathedrals there are depictions of an episode in the life of Christ: his birth,” he said.

“Here instead we have the representation of the nativity, according to the spirit of St. Francis, so this nativity is the first nativity scene in history. It is not only a representation of the nativity, but it is a nativity scene.”

The Basilica of St. Mary Major’s connection to Christ’s birth goes back for centuries before this nativity scene was commissioned. The basilica has a precious relic of pieces of Christ’s crib sent from Bethlehem by St. Sophronius, then the patriarch of Jerusalem, to Pope Theodore I in the seventh century.

For this reason, the basilica was once called St. Mary of the Manger and was also referred to as “the Bethlehem of the West.”

This relic of the manger was historically kept in the crypt Chapel of the Nativity, which was first created in the seventh century but has been repeatedly reconstructed over the centuries.

Pope Sixtus V restored the crypt Chapel of the Nativity to the form seen today between 1585 and 1590 as he built the basilica’s Sistine chapel.

In St. Mary Major’s Sistine chapel, where the nativity scene is located, one can also see the first tabernacle to be made according to the precepts of the Council of Trent and an altar dedicated to St. Jerome.

Tradition holds that St. Jerome’s relics were brought from Bethlehem to Rome shortly after the relic of the manger and are now located either in the main altar or this side chapel in the Basilica of St. Mary Major where the first nativity is currently displayed.

During the Advent and Christmas season this year, a relic of the manger has been brought out for veneration in the basilica’s Borghese chapel, to the left of the main altar. This relic is usually found in the niche below the main altar. It was moved by Pope Pius IX from the Chapel of the Nativity to its current location under the altar in the 19th century.

Pope Francis visited the Basilica of St. Mary Major during Advent this year on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, and offered Mass in the crypt Chapel of the Nativity.

Last year Pope Francis made a pilgrimage to the Italian town of Greccio during Advent to sign an apostolic letter on the meaning and importance of nativity scenes in the location where St. Francis of Assisi created the first nativity scene in 1223.

The letter recalled the story behind St. Francis’ first living nativity scene, or crèche. The saint asked a friend 15 days before Christmas to help him prepare “to bring to life” the memory of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem.

“When St. Francis arrived, he found a manger full of hay, an ox and a donkey. All those present experienced a new and indescribable joy in the presence of the Christmas scene. The priest then solemnly celebrated the Eucharist over the manger, showing the bond between the Incarnation of the Son of God and the Eucharist.”

“At Greccio there were no statues; the nativity scene was enacted and experienced by all who were present.”

Thomas of Celano, the first biographer of St. Francis, wrote that someone present at the Mass had a vision of the baby Jesus himself lying in the manger.

Pope Francis wrote: “In a particular way, from the time of its Franciscan origins, the nativity scene has invited us to ‘feel’ and ‘touch’ the poverty that God’s Son took upon himself in the Incarnation. Implicitly, it summons us to follow him along the path of humility, poverty and self-denial that leads from the manger of Bethlehem to the cross.”

“The Gospel notes that ‘there was no place for them at the inn’ (Luke 2:7). This statement. Recalling the text in John’s Prologue: ‘His own people received him not’ (John 1:11), foretells as it were the many refusals Jesus will meet during his earthly life. The phrase ‘for them’ joins the Son and the Mother in this rejections and shows how Mary is already associated with her Son’s destiny of suffering and shares his redeeming mission.”

 

Merry Christmas to all my Readers!

 

The Kind of Music we need during Christmas and the Rest of the Year in the Catholic Church

I was reading through Catholic news and came across a new album release by The London Oratory Schola, a Catholic boys choir which originated in Rome, but this particular branch is in the UK. The singers range in age from 8 to 18 and are comprised of 20 to 30 members.

The music is breathtaking. Absolutely transcendent.

I don't know why but Catholic churches in many areas seem to have adopted a belief that whether it's music or liturgy or art or whatever other area of worship, it must be simplified to appeal to the broadest audience. When it comes to music, there seems to be a belief that if the worst singer cannot sing the music, then it must be rejected. I'm not sure what you would even call this belief system, but it has obviously taken hold.

There are a couple of developments which have occurred. One is the simplification of music in liturgies. Rather than polyphony or plainchant, we are given folk music with very simple rhythms. The other trend is to replace tried and true music from many generations ago with music from the 70s. As one commentator put it, some people like to say it is more "modern", when in fact, at this point it is 40 or 50 years old. How is that modern?

Plus, it's not a debate about whether people want modern or old-fashioned music. It's a debate between contemporary, fad music vs. timeless music.

How is it that a century or more ago, parishioners could enjoy complex music written by Palestrina, Mozart, and others, while now we are treated to "Eagle's Wings"? It's like going from a doctorate down to kindergarten.

Something else I have noticed is a kind of democratization of the music in church. Often there are some very good singers, but sometimes random people are chosen to sing. They may be able to sing a hymn in the pew, but they have issues doing a good job during Mass as the lead cantor. One of my pet peeves is cantors who do not have precise timing. It's like to them being a second off is not a big deal. It's very distracting.

There is also the concept, as mentioned already, that unless every person can "participate" in the singing of the song, then it's probably too complex and should not be played. This would make sense if it were a music lesson in primary school. But this is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. A favorite saying in my catechism group came from a friend of mine and says "Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi", which translates to the law of prayer is the law of belief and means that the way we pray and worship informs our beliefs.

For example, if the music is folksy and sounds like a nursery rhyme, then we are less likely to take our faith seriously. It will seem childish and like just a little bit of fun. When any difficulty comes into our lives, we will not have a serious faith to rely on. In our minds, church is for the good times, a sort of community hall where we get together to sing carols. On the other hand, if the music is deep and complex, and has stood the test of time, it is more likely that our faith will have similar characteristics.

To continue with this analysis, I feel if the music is simple and approachable, that's how we'll see God. Whereas as Christians, we know our faith centers around mysteries which are truths whose depths can never be fully realized. The music ought to convey a sense of wonder and awe, rather than something frivolous and simple. We risk not realizing the depth and richness of the Catholic faith and see it rather as no different than going out with friends to karaoke.

There will be many objections to what I am saying. Some will say we simply don't have the budget to hire professional singers. To this I would say professional singers are not required, but often churches do hire professional singers anyway, but to sing "modern" music. Music is very important and should not be left to amateurs with little musical training. On top of that, I would say there are definitely good simple music as well. Traditional music is much better than 70s guitar music. Plus there is always the option of omitting music for weekday Masses anyway. Finally, I have heard really bad, yet complex music. It's bad because it's just far too modern and is anything but timeless. The same effort should have been put into producing great traditional music.

Other people will object by saying Mass is meant to be welcoming to everyone and is, in fact, for the "masses". I couldn't agree more. But people in general have the wrong idea about participation or assistance at Mass. In fact, I just came across a Catholic Answers forum post where someone was wonder the meaning of the term "assist" when it comes to Mass. People have the idea that to assist at Mass means you are "doing something", such as carrying the gifts, singing, taking up collection, reading, etc. This has nothing to with assisting at Mass. We participate or "assist" at Mass in four ways: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication.

However, because of the misinterpretation of "assisting" or "participating" at Mass, people have come to believe that we need as many laypeople being busy during the Holy Sacrifice as possible, which includes their participation in music. This is a false belief and has real negative implications. As I wrote yesterday, believing as many people as possible need to be "doing something" has led to strange things happening, such as Extraordinary Ministers of Communion being used when completely unnecessary.

Part of the problem, I think, comes from a form of pride and a lack of understanding of the Catholic understanding of beauty. Pride comes into play when people are not willing to take their proper place, but feel entitled to take a higher or more important role. It is also a refusal to believe that a person is more talented in a particular area than oneself. St. Paul says we are all part of the Body of Christ as Christians, but that each part has a different role. Humility does not entail denying our gifts, but thanking God for them. People who are excellent singers, musicians, painters, sculptors, etc. should not shy away and hide their talents. Also, those around them should not allow that to happen either.

In the past there was always the ideal of creating things of beauty when it came to music, art, and other areas within the Church. It was not about promoting equality or some misinterpretation of "participation", but it was about beauty. In the Catholic understanding, some things are beautiful and worthy of admiration and other things are not beautiful or even ugly and worthy to be avoided. We do not believe that beauty is in the eye of the beholder as such, although there can be variance in taste.

You don't need a magnificent cathedral in order to do things the right way. Many tiny churches are reverent and holy and are much more suited to Catholic worship than other much larger places.

Anyway, having said all of that, please check out Sacred treasures of Christmas by Schola cantorum here.

300th Post and Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone. This is Christmas day and the 300th post of this blog. Thanks for all those who have supported me, and thanks to all the contributors to this blog. Today we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour!

The Pope too was celebrating last night, when he was attacked by a woman named Susanna Maiolo, aged 25. She jumped out of the crowd and lunged at the Pope, causing him to fall. He was helped up and wasn't injured. This occurred at midnight Mass which the Pope celebrated at 10pm instead of the usual midnight. Ironically, I attended an actual midnight Mass yesterday rather than my usual 10pm Mass.

Unbelievably, this same woman also attacked the Pope last year at midnight mass, and she was wearing the same red sweater. It is believed she is mentally disturbed.

Here is a video of the 2009 attack:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/12/25/vatican.christmas.pope/index.html

Here is a video of the 2008 attack:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8430495.stm

The pope is doing alright, and seems pretty tough. He also fell in his bathroom several months ago and broke his wrist, but it didn't seem to bother him much. Blessings to Pope Benedict on Christmas!

Nazi Christmas

I was just reading information on how the Nazi's celebrated Christmas. I realized two things. First of all, any myth that the Nazis retained any form of Christianity is clearly rejected. Secondly, there are some aspects of the Nazi Christmas that are mimicked in today's "modern" world.

First and foremost, Nazis wanted to remove reference to Christ completely wherever possible. Instead of celebrating Christmas in particular, they wanted to celebrate the Solstice, or a sort of catch-all celebration. They probably wanted people to say "happy holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas" Sound familiar?

The words of Silent Night were changed to include no references to God, Christ or religion. Other tunes as well had references to Christianity removed. Swatstikas were placed atop Christmas trees rather than stars.

Something similar is happening in our own culture. People think it's offensive to mention Christmas or Christ or God or Jesus, etc. So they substitute it with words like happy holidays, etc. This is not even coming from other religions. It's coming from Christians themselves or people raised as Christians.

I heard a story about a university group who had an international Christmas. At first, they wanted to incorporate elements from all different cultures and religions, etc. to make this international "holiday", but the international students rejected this. They did not want a mixture, they wanted the real deal. They wanted Christmas.

Christmas is a great time of the year, so say Merry Christmas and celebrate the Birth of Christ. Never forgo these beautiful beliefs for some atheistic catch-all non-specific holiday that is meaningless.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Tradition of Giving Gifts during Christmas

We all know Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ around 2,000 years ago. This is a very important celebration for Christians, because this is when Christ came into the world to save the human race. Therefore, we praise and worship during this time, and have festivals, and so on. But where does the tradition of giving gifts to one another come from? There are other very important Christian celebrations, such as Easter, Pentecost, Good Friday, etc. but during these people do not customarily give gifts. Easter is a possible exception, but until recently, people only gave chocolates during this time. This is a topic for another day (probably around Easter). Back to Christmas. You may notice that St. Nicholas is always intrisic to Christmas, and this is the main clue. St. Nicholas is famous for helping out 3 women in Turkey who could not get married because they didn't have enough money. So St. Nicholas, threw bags of gold into their houses so that they would have enough to be married. This helped them greatly. St. Nicholas was a very famous saint for many other reasons as well. He was instrumental during the ecumenical council of Nicea for proclaiming Christ's divinity. St. Nicholas was a very holy man from the moment of his birth. Legend has it that St. Nicholas would not nurse from his mother on Wednesdays and Fridays, traditional Christian fast days. It is also said that after his death, many people received miracles from his grave. A large following developed around St. Nicholas and devotions to him grew substantially. During the Middle Ages, St. Nicholas had one of the greatest number of devotees of any saint at the time. In order to celebrate their devotion, people gave gifts to each other on December 6, the feast day of St. Nicholas. This became a tradition. Eventually, Christians felt there was too much emphasis on St. Nicholas day and not enough of Chritmas Day, so the date of giving gifts was changed to Christmas.

Keep the X in Christmas

During Christmas there are many signs around saying, “Keep Christ in Christmas”. These have a good intention, and often times it is very justified and necessary for such a message, especially in this day and age. Christmas is the reason for the season, but the act of giving gifts during Christmas is not something which was always associated with it, nor is it necessary. Often, people’s reason for saying Keep Christ in Christmas is to remind people that Christmas is not there just as a material celebration and reason to give and receive gifts, but that it is meant to celebrate and worship the birth of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe is our Lord and Savior.

Where does the term X-mas originate? Some may say it’s a way of shortening the word Christmas because it can’t fit on a lot of signs. A sign might have 50 words on it, and be 10 meters across and 5 meters high, but someone might need to save 3 inches by putting X instead of Christ. This sounds a bit fishy. Well, many (including those putting X-Mas on their signs) will be surprised to know that X-Mas goes back a long way, hundreds of years ago. The first two letters of the name of Jesus in Greek is spelled XP, and the X came to represent Christ. XP is a famous Catholic symbol, and is often used on vestments of priests and places around Churches.

So now that I've established the original meaning of X-mas, in my next post, I will find out where the idea of giving gifts during Christmas comes from.

Reflections of Advent, 4 weeks before Christmas

Advent is a time of preparation for Christmas. At Mass every week, we say that we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are waiting for Christ to return. Remember, Christ was already here. He came to Earth about 2,000 years ago, born of the Virgin Mary. When the Angel appeared to Mary at the Annunciation, he told he she would bear the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Mary was completely faithful to God, no matter how hard his teachings were to accept. Mary was completely obedient to God, whereas Eve disobeyed God. Eve's no was Mary's yes. In fact, Mary is the reverse of Eve. Eve in Latin is Eva, Eva is reversed to form Ave, from which we say Ave Maria, or Hail Mary in English. Adam brought death into the world by disobeying God, but Jesus, the new Adam brought life into the world, and opened the gates of Heaven. We celebrate the incarnation of Jesus Christ, from the moment of his conception. Jesus, just a few cells minutes after his conception, was the Son of God Incarnate. Mary is the mother of God.

Now, during Advent, we also wait for the coming of Jesus Christ, but now we wait with a double meaning. We not only anticipate Christ's first coming, but also his second. We marvel at the past, and rejoice in the future. For the gift of God's son to Mankind is an eternal gift, shared by our generation as well as hundreds of generations before us. Jesus, though God, gave himself completely to mankind, so that they might see that the greatest of kings is the lowliest of servants.

God is a God of paradox, but the wisdom of man is the folly of God. God's ways are so much above our own. While some Jews and Gentiles waited for a King fit for human standards, a ruler who would cast off his enemies with great armies, others were ready to hear God's voice, however it were to appear. Mary accepted Jesus as he was. She followed God, no matter what her human mind may have told her. She opened herself to all possibility which God has revealed. Jesus, the Son of God, was born in the lowliest place, the feeding trough of animals. And Jesus suffered the most humiliating death, a crucifixion fit for criminals. As we wait for Christ to be born, we remember that true faith, hope, and love are not found in countless armies, but in the hearts of everyone, even the lowliest servant.

As we prepare for the coming of the Messiah, both his first and his next appearance, let us remember all those around us. Remember the lowly, for whatever you do to the least of your brethren, you do onto God.