The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-12-21
BEAUTIFUL CHRISTMAS
LEGENDS.

All round the season OF INC OOul"
ing of Love as a little Child there have
sprung legends and beliefs, like bios
SONS in a gracious Cline, which testi-
fly with subtlety to the depth of the
appeal of the birth of Christ. Here
divinely spiritual symbolism and there
sweet human tenderness and pathos
appear, and, blended, they evidence the
worlds belief that He was both Son
of Man and Son of God.
The Lowly Manager in Which Christ
Was Graded.
Tradition declares that within the
stone manger there was another one
of wood, and that the stone cradle in
the Chapel of the Nativity is, indeed,
the outer manger. Splendid is that
humble stone covered now with white
marble, softly rich with costly drap-
cries, and radiant with silver star,
which is surrounded by sixteen lamps,
ever lighted. But yet more glorious is
the wooden manger at Rome, the YER
liable manger in which the Christ
Child lay. 1t was removed to Rome
in the seventh century, during the Mo
hammedan invasion of the Holy Land,
and there it is preserved in the Church
of Santa Maria Maggiore in a strong
brazen chest from which it is brought
forth on Christmas days, when it is
placed on the high altar 1t is mount
ed upon stand of silver, which is in
laid with gold and gems, and the
shrine in which it rests is of purest
rock crystal In the days in which
this was accomplished men, whatso-
ever may have been their shortcom-
ings in other directions, gave magnifi-
Gently to the Church Visible.
The Hay of Bethlehem.
The legend which tells how the very
hay which lined the manger in which
the Holy Babe was laid put forth liv-
ing red blossoms at midwinter at the
touch of the Babes body could only
have arisen from belief in the renewal
of life through the Lord of Life.
Tradition says that the hour of the
Babes birth was the hour of mid
night, and legend adds that from then
until dawn cocks crew. In Ireland it
is held that whose looks into a mir
ror on this eve will see the devil Judas
Iscariot looking over his shoulder,
surely sufficient to drive the hardest
soul to a thought of the Innocent Babe.
The Legend of the Christmas Rose.
ArotI,<,,. <of 4@,<,r.r q ,;,;kroT Y,orahI,c
is the legend of the Christmas rose,
and it tells how good things, fit for
giving, spring up ready to the hand
which earnestly desires to give to the
Child. 1t is said that certain maiden
of Bethlehem was so poor that she had
nothing to give to the Babe to Whom
kings brought wealth from afar, and,
as she stood, longing and mourning
an angel appeared to her. saying,
Look at thy feet, beneath the snow, =
and 10! on obeying, the maiden found
that new flower had miraculously
sprung up and blossomed at her needs.
Ever since then, runs this story. this
exquisite flower is to be found at this
season; and, indeed, its half-opened
cups are like chalices of love, and its
fully-spread petals are like a happy
innocence, fit symbols for the gifts for
the Babe of spotless innocence, Whose
heart was the vessel of love.
y The Holy Thorn of Glastonbury.
And there is the beautiful legend of
the holy thorn of Glastonbury which
blossomed every Christmas, and. SO
ran the legend. had done so ever since
ST. Joseph of Arimathea, having come
as apostle to Britain, and. landing at