The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-01-17
FATHER ZAHM HONORED| RELICS OF THE CRIB

PRESERVED in ne BASlEISA OF
ST. MARY MAJOR IN RoME-IN-
TEREsTINe HISTORY OF THIS
cHURcH-IN FORMER DAYS
THE FIRST MASS ON CHRIST
MAS DAY WAS CELEBRATED AT
THE ALTAR OF THE CRIB BY
THE POPE HIMSELF.
One of the Seven Hills of the
Eternal City is crowned by the basilica
that we now call Santa Maria Mag
giore (the Greater St. Mary's). 1t is
the center, at present, of a populous
and busy quarter, and a number OF
churches cluster around, but in past
history the Esquiline Hill had very
weird and sinister associations.
These were dark days of paganism,
long before the basilica, with its price
less relic of the crib of Bethlehem,
and it's ancient picture of Our Lady,
raised it's majestic head. In Nero's
time the Esquiline was of evil asso-
Citations, for the bodies of executed
slaves and criminals were burnt upon
the Hill and buried in the waste land
which stretched away towards the
Lateran. Witches were said to hold
dread meetings and work black magic
there.
And when Nero enclosed much Of
this wild ground within the precincts
of his Golden House" it's reputation
was not improved.
In the devastating course of years
the palace of ill fame fell into partial
ruin, but the Esquiline and the waste
lands around were still places to be
avoided. How came it that the char
nel-pit of criminals and the haunt of
witches and associates of evil was to
be for ever linked with the name of
the Blessed Virgin? Our Lady ap-
peared to John and his wife, two pious
Roman patricians, and bade them seek
a spot where on the morrow they
would find a patch of freshly fallen
snow, and there build church in her
honor. 1t was in 352, in the pontifcate
of Liberius, who received a similar
inspiration. 1t was the morning of
the 9Th of August and the fierce sun
beat down upon the broad hill top,
the freshly fallen snow. GA miracle"
cried Liberius. The cry rang through
out the city and a little church, the
forerunner of the stately basilica, was
raised upon the exact site of the mar
vellous fall of snow. For many years
it was Sancta Maria ad Nives, and the
later title, Sancta Maria ad Presepe
was not given until about the seventh
century. Sixtus III rebuilt the church
and gave it the basilica form, and to-
day it is acknowledged to be one of
the most perfectly proportional of
the Roman basilicas.
Like every other place in Rome it
knew the vicissitudes of stormy
times; it was burnt and rebuilt; pill
LACED, sacked and rebuilt again, until
out of the stress and storm of cen
turtles it has emerged, great and
glorious temple dedicated to the Moth
er of God, cleaning with marble and
gold, and the rich gifts of kings.
1t is not quite certain when the
relics of the crib of Bethlehem were
first placed here. By some they are
believed to have been brought here in
the seventh century by Syrian pill
grim, Theodurus; but an old Italian
guide to the holy places of Rome, pub
lished in 1925, tells us that, at that
period, it was generally believed that
st. Helena brought them to Rome.
Here their resting-place has been for
centuries, and in 1906 Philip III Of
Spain enclosed the three rough brown
boards in rich reliquary of crystal
and silver. Later the relics of the
Holy Innocents were also placed there.
So, today, the Basilica of st. Mary
Majors is the Basilica of the Nativity,
and the Christmas feast seems divided
between the stately Basi1ica on the
Esquiline and the old and beautiful
Church of Ara Coeli, on the Capitoline
Hill.
Far back in the days of Papal Rome,
the Pope-King came in solemn pomp,
with his court, to sing the first of his
three Christmas Masses at the little
altar of the Crib. and then in the dusk
of the early winter morning the splen-
did procession moved around the dim
ly-lighted Basilica, bearing in it's midst
the time-worn, rough boards that once
formed part of the cradle of the King
of Kings. But those days are past;
the Sovereign Pontiff says his three
Christmas Masses quietly in his pri-
vate chapel in the Vatican.
The early procession of the sacred
Crib still takes place in st. Mary Ma
jor's. The Basilica is Illuminated from
end to end, the light Of thousand
candles and electric lamps is reflected
back from the marble pillars, and the
golden roof and the rich ornaments on
the altar, the relic of the Manager is
carried around the great church and
placed upon the High Altar, where 1t
remains for the entire octave, except
on the Feast of Holy Innocents, when
it is temporarily placed in little
chapel adjoining the sacristy.
THE CHURCH'S ACCUSERS