THE FIRST NATIVITY SCENE St Francis of Assisi, set up the first - TopicsExpress

THE FIRST NATIVITY SCENE St Francis of Assisi, set up the first nativity scene in 1223. People celebrated Christmas primarily by going to Mass (a worship service) at church, where priests would tell the Christmas story in a language that most ordinary people didnt speak: Latin. Although churches sometimes featured fancy artistic renditions of Christ as an infant, they didnt present any realistic manger scenes. Francis decided that he wanted to make the extraordinary experiences of the first Christmas more accessible to ordinary people. Francis, who was living in the town of Greccio, Italy at the time, got the Pope’s permission to proceed with his plans. Then he asked his close friend John Velita to loan him some animals and straw to set up a scene there to represent Jesus Christ’s birth in Bethlehem. The nativity scene could help people in the area imagine what it may have been like to be present on the first Christmas long ago, when they came to worship at Christmas Eve Mass in December 1223, Francis said. The scene, which was set up in a cave just outside Greccio, featured a wax figure of the infant Jesus, costumed people playing the roles of Mary and Joseph, and the live donkey and ox that John had loaned to Francis. Local shepherds watched over their sheep in nearby fields, just as shepherds in Bethlehem had watched over sheep on the first Christmas, when the sky suddenly filled with angels who announced Christ’s birth to them. The first nativity scene presentation proved to be so popular that people in other areas soon set up living nativities to celebrate Christmas. Eventually, Christians worldwide celebrated Christmas by visiting living nativity scenes and praying at nativity scenes made of statues in their town squares, churches and homes. People also added more figures to their nativity scenes than Francis was able to feature in his original, live presentation. In addition to the baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, a donkey, and an ox, later nativity scenes featured angels, shepherds, sheep, camels, and the three kings who traveled to present gifts to the infant Jesus and his parents.

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