By Sr. Emmanuel
In 1223, three years before his death, Francis of Assisi was going to celebrate Christmas night with his brothers and a group of faithful. But because his chapel was too small, he used a natural grotto of Greccio, in the mountain. Inspired by God, his wish was to create a model of the real manger where our Savior was born in the poor grotto of Bethlehem, deprived of any sort of comfort, with its genuine ‘furniture’ of the time: a manger trough with hay, a live ox and a live donkey. Francis may not fully realize he just invented the first live Nativity scene of the world! It is there, in this magnificent scenery of Mount Greccio, that Francis lived the solemn midnight Mass in the presence of all the people of the area, in awe and beaming. Little by little, thanks to St. Francis, the tradition of the Christmas Nativity scene was born! It will be adopted by millions of Christians and become one of their most popular traditions.
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