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<\/a><\/p>\nToday is Boxing Day<\/a>, as it is known in the UK and its Commonwealth, also known in Catholic and Lutheran countries as\u00a0 St. Stephen\u2019s Day<\/a>, the Second Day of Christmas.\u00a0 (Pause for a moment to reflect on the fact that the day after the Christ child is born, we honor the first martyr to die for his faith in Him.)<\/p>\n Various reasons<\/a> have been put forth on the meaning of the term \u201cBoxing Day.\u201d\u00a0 Some say it is called that because the \u201cpoor boxes\u201d in churches put there for offerings were opened on the day after Christmas and the money given to the poor.\u00a0 Another account is that the day after Christmas was when British servants were given a day off to spend with their families, and the custom was for employers to send them off with a box containing presents, a monetary gift, and leftovers.\u00a0 This morphed into a more general custom of giving tradesmen, vendors, and service workers (as in our garbage collectors and newspaper deliverers) a seasonal tip called a \u201cChristmas box.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, Boxing Day is mainly observed by shopping at \u201cBoxing Day Sales\u201d and by watching the Cricket.\u00a0 But some people<\/em>, I am told, use the day to box up their Christmas decorations (as opposed to the more traditional practice of leaving them up for the Twelve Days of the season, ending on Epiphany, January 6).<\/p>\n So I have finally segued into my topic:\u00a0 Nativity Scenes.\u00a0 It turns out 2023 is the 800th Anniversary of the Nativity Scene<\/a>.\u00a0 And thereon hangs a tale. . . .<\/p>\n In 1223, St. Francis of Assisi saw a cave in the region of the Italian village of Greccio that made him think of the stable in Bethlehem.\u00a0 He put a manger in it, added hay, and borrowed an ox and a donkey.\u00a0 He then invited other friars and the villagers to the site, where they sang and worshiped.\u00a0 This had a strong effect.\u00a0 Let\u2019s let St. Bonaventure tell about it from his Life of St. Francis<\/a> (X.6):<\/p>\n Now three years before his death it befell that he was minded, at the town of Greccio, to celebrate the memory of the Birth of the Child Jesus, with all the added solemnity that he might, for the kindling of devotion. That this might not seem an innovation, he sought and obtained license from the Supreme Pontiff, and then made ready a manger, and bade hay, together with an ox and an ass, be brought unto the spot. The Brethren were called together, the folk assembled, the wood echoed with their voices, and that august night was made radiant and solemn with many bright lights, and with tuneful and sonorous praises. The man of God, filled with tender love, stood before the manger, bathed m tears, and overflowing with joy. Solemn Masses were celebrated over the manger, Francis, the Levite of Christ, chanting the Holy Gospel. Then he preached unto the folk standing round of the Birth of the King in poverty, calling Him, when he wished to name Him, the Child of Bethlehem, by reason of his tender love for Him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It\u2019s interesting that St. Francis was worried about committing an \u201cinnovation,\u201d so he first asked permission from the Pope.\u00a0 Would that far less genuinely creative clerics who are trying<\/em> to come up with innovations in worship had his caution!\u00a0 It is also interesting that the festivities were accompanied \u201cwith many bright lights.\u201d\u00a0 Maybe 2023 is also the 800th anniversary of Christmas lights.<\/p>\n And thus the Nativity Scene was born.\u00a0 Sort of.\u00a0 Not exactly.\u00a0 It was born again, we might say, and the second time with a Lutheran connection.<\/p>\n The manger in the cave with animals was not a set of figurines with Mary, Joseph, the Baby, Angels, Shepherds, and the Wise Men.\u00a0 Nor was it a \u201cLiving Nativity Scene,\u201d\u00a0 since it had no human actors.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s artistic rendition derives from the Jesuits<\/a>, with the first recorded example being from Prague in\u00a01562.\u00a0 The Jesuits, whose signature approach to meditation involved vividly imagining scenes from Scripture, were the vanguard of the Counter Reformation, charged with rebuilding Catholic piety in response to the challenges of the Reformation.\u00a0 (Catholics never give Luther enough credit.\u00a0 If it weren\u2019t for the Reformation, there would never have been a Counter Reformation, which is the source of many Catholic customs much prized today.)<\/p>\n An article on the history of the Nativity Scene<\/a> quotes a scholar who believes that the depictions of not just the Virgin and Child, as in most medieval iconography, but the entire Holy Family, was a response to\u2013and an underhanded acknowledgment of\u2013Luther\u2019s focus on marriage and the family vocations:<\/p>\n Fr. Tom Worcester, a Jesuit and history professor at Fordham University, points out that this was the period of the Protestant Reformation, saying, \u201cI\u00a0think what helped to bring it about was that the Protestants rejected celibacy and their clergy married. There was emphasis on the goodness of marriage. Part of the Catholic response was to say, \u2018We too are in favor of the family. The Holy Family is our model, Mary, Jesus and Joseph.\u2019 Well, it had not been before. In the Middle Ages the images were Madonna and Child,\u00a0with Joseph rarely shown.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Nativity Scene was invented in 1223–800 years ago–by St. Francis of Assisi. Sort of.\u00a0 Not exactly.\u00a0 It was born again, we might say, and the second time had a Lutheran connection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":71190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,10,11,16,20,21,38,47,48],"tags":[5057,590,3584,5025,14211,9042],"class_list":["post-70931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-christ","category-church","category-family","category-history","category-holidays","category-reformation","category-theology","category-vocation","tag-boxing-day","tag-counter-reformation","tag-jesuits","tag-nativity-scenes","tag-reformation-and-family","tag-st-francis-of-assisi"],"yoast_head":"\n