Midway between Rome and Assisi, a Franciscan hermitage clings to the side of a cliff just outside the village of Greccio. You may not know of this place, but if you have a Nativity scene in your home, it has its roots there.
St. Francis of Assisi, in 1223, recreated the Nativity scene of Bethlehem using live animals, and humans. He wanted to show how close God is to us, no matter where we are. As Pope Francis says in his book, Christmas at the Nativity, “With the simplicity of that sign, Saint Francis carried out a great work of evangelization. His teaching touched the hearts of Christians and continues today to offer a simple yes authentic means of portraying the beauty of our faith.”
To mark this centenary, last year we invited people to make their own crib and put it on display in the Franciscan Abbey in Galway from the feast of the Immaculate Conception to the feast of the Epiphany.
This year we have expanded the exhibition and have opened up another room to house all these wonderful creations. Check out the video of the construction processes and the finished products for this year’s exhibition. Cribs in the Abbey
We are continuing a tradition that happens in many Franciscan places. Every year there have historically been exhibitions of cribs in these places, most famously in Greccio, which is a perennial exhibition, and in Assisi which represents cribs from all over the world. They can be a simple set of figurines set in racially diverse places or more elaborate and creative ones, some with entire townscapes, some highlighting wonderfully diverse settings, some representing places of warfare or dire need, stressing our solidarity with these people.
More recently, there has been a display of 100 cribs every year in Rome following from the Franciscan tradition (see this link: https://www.saturdaysinrome.com/blog/vatican-christmas-nativity).
