First representation of the Crib
Saint Francis is credited with the first representation of the scene of the Birth of Jesus.
Francis wanted to represent Emmanuel, “God with us,” and for that he went far beyond a simple depiction, a puppet play, or a scene arranged with small figures.
It happened at Christmas in 1223. Francis had accepted the invitation of the lord of Greccio, a village set high among rocky slopes, to withdraw there in prayer. He wished to celebrate the Nativity in the midst of the caves at the top of the mountain. Inspired by a simple and poetic intuition, he asked his friend to recreate the scene of Bethlehem: “I want to remember the child who was born in Bethlehem and see with my own eyes the hardships of his humble infancy, how he rested in a manger, and how, between the ox and the donkey, he lay in the hay.” These details are not described in the Gospels, but come from beloved Christian imagination and early Christmas tradition.
On Christmas night, the people of Greccio climbed the mountain with torches and candles, until the darkness shone like day. They sang; the forest carried their voices, and the rocks gave them back in echo. Mass was celebrated. Francis stood near the manger. He proclaimed the Gospel with a voice at once fervent and gentle, clear and resonant. His preaching moved hearts. Among the crowd, one man had a vision: he saw the child lying in the manger and Francis leaning close as if to wake him.
That night, the cave of Greccio was Bethlehem. Francis did not simply remember the past; he made it present and living. In a time when little attention was given to childhood, Francis emphasized the vulnerability of the child—someone fragile and needing care—and he helped spread devotion to the Child Jesus. In an age of strict social divisions, he gathered all alike around the weakest one. Just as he sought an order of brothers rather than monks set apart, he hoped to strengthen the bonds of human family life, with the Child at its center. And as a poet of creation, he placed the animals close to the cradle, honoring them as part of the great family of life.
Francis’s nativity scene was the vision of a different world: God brought close to us, inviting us to care for the small and the weak, and to recognize our kinship with all living beings. Francis said, “I want to see with my own eyes the hardships of his poor childhood.” In the same spirit, we are invited to look again, with our own eyes today, at both the beauty and the difficulty of living. And to see how the God who is forever being born can accompany us in that task.
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