The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1909-12-11
THE CHRISTMAS CRIB.

1t is fitting that we owe the most beautiful of
Christmas devotions to st. Francis of Assist, the
brown-robed mendicant whose passage through the
hills and valleys of Umbria has left golden mem
DRY in the hearts of the world for 700 years. He
the apostle of simplicity, this gentle saint who
could speak so wisely to his little brothers, the
birds, who could learn such wonderful lessons from
his little friends, the fishes He found God every
where, and saw His likeness In everything. He
sanctihed the commonplace, seeing the symbol of
the Creator in the least of His works. blessing the
beasts, praising God in the flowers, loving every
created thing He loved the lambs because they re-
minded him of the Lamb without spot, and we read
that when he met them being led to the shambles
he wept tenderly and would not go away until he
had redeemed them from death. One day, seeing a
poor little sheep walking in the midst of troop of
goats he said sadly to his brethren. at was thus
that our Savior walked in the midst of troop of
goats when with the Jews and Pharisees." His
friars wished to buy the sheep to their gentle
master from Distress but they had no money. A
passing dealer-one of those opportune providences
that follow in the footsteps of Francis-seeng the
embarrassment Of the Brothers, paid for the sheep
Is it any wonder that such man should have
been seized at once with the idea of human beauty
of the Incarnation2 Is it any wonder that he
should have seen in the Nativity not the coming
of the King, not the unspeakable mystery of the
redemption, but the birth of the Babe in Bethe-
votlon Of the crib-it Is one of those beautiful
growths by which Christianity has nourished the hui
man soul from the beginning-but he at least pop
ularized it in Italy. Christmas was his spiritual
holiday. 1t was the feast of love and st. Francis
is the worlds greatest preacher of the love of God
His brothers asked him day if it was right to
eat meat on Christmas when the feast fell on Fri
day. "Assuredly," answered Francis. he of all
Saints the closest to the Passion he of the Stig-
mata- "assuredly, | would even wish that the
princes and great ones of the earth strewed the
country and the highroads with meat and cheese in
order that the birds and the beasts of the field
should have their share in so great feast"
And he began to consider how he should bring
the Christmastide near to the hearts and vivid to
the imagination of the peasant folk of his country
1t was only genius, one whose mind was as quick
his heart in the service Of his Master who could
have hit upon idea so universal an appeal so
irresistible as the cradle of infancy From a purely
human point of view the Nativity. is one of the
great master strokes which make Christianity as
human system so Incompatible so magnificently
daring. To cloak the utmost abject helplessness to
weigh down little outcast Babe with the omnipo-
tence of the Creator of the world-what concep-
ton of human genius could be at once bold and so
beautiful so awful and so winning?
ST. Francis saw the possibilities of increased de-
votion to his dear Master that would follow the en-
phasizing, the humanizing, of this idea He deter
mined to have great Christian fest, of which
the renown should spread through the length and
breadth of Italy He went to Rome-it was al
ready close to the end of the year 1223-and going
to the Holy Father he laid before the Supreme Pom
tiff his idea of the Christmas crib and his desire to
celebrate the birth of the Savior with his brethren
to gather together the popuace from all the neigh
boring hill towns and to make the underlying mer-
cy and love of the Incarnation so patent to all that
no heart in Italy should be able to resist it.
With the Plaintiffs blessing and godspeed he start
no Tow Of Gbr1cf H.
his heart 1t was the vigil of the feast before he
arrived in Greco. He had conveyed minute in
,tructions to his good friend Giovanni Velita and
he found everything in readiness in accordance with
his pious plans.
An altar had been built in the open air. A skill
full craftsman among the brownrobed Brothers had
fashioned crib and grouped round it the OK, the
ss everything the evangelist had described it and
tradition had pictured it in the stable at Beth
chem.
The shrine was in the heart of the wood. and at
midnight the Friar Minor led thence a strange COM
'any of mountaineers and peasants awed and 81
ent, who craved leave to go to Grecio to celebrate
he Christmas festival. They lighted the way
through the black aisles of the forest with flicker
ng torches.
AS they proceeded they broke the mysterious 81
ence with song repeating over and over again the
haunting verses of the Umbrian Christmas carols.
heir liquid Italian religious melody, compared to
which harder northern hymns of colder Christ
mas sound hard and conventional
Francis was 5ubilant We are told that he could
lot refrain from shedding tears of ioy. One sus
ects that the good saint with all his inimitable
oiety, had touch of the dramatic instinct or at
east had well developed that sense of the pictur-
sque which is strong in all true sons of Italv.
The italian Immediately groups his ideas into pic
ures, he at once SEXES upon the right artistic mo-
lent to perpetuate an emotion 1t is for this rea-
on that faith in Italy flowers into so many lovely
ancies and that Italy has been the worlds inspira
ion and the worlds teacher in art.
The love of Jesus welled up in the preachers