Last night Katie and I took our friend Joan<\/a> to see a creche collection that has been 45 years in the making. Tom Petitte, FSM, received an 11-piece nativity set from his parents when he took his vows as a Marist brother in 1964. Today his collection fills four classrooms in a parish education center in Peabody, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/div>\nThat first 11-piece set is at the bottom center of this photo: the Holy Family, three Wise Men, a couple of shepherds, three sheep . . . Now, as you can see, Brother Tom\u2019s collection of Fonantini nativity pieces, all created in one Italian village, is completely out of control.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s only the piece de resistance of a collection numbering 200 nativity scenes. Sets, all of which have been given to Brother Tom, \u201ccome from six continents, and are made out of a wide range of materials including banana leaves, corn husks, wood, porcelain, pewter, glass and fabric and bear the names of well-known brands of collectibles, including Lenox and Precious Moments. Brother Tom\u2019s collection contains Peanuts figures, as well as animal figurines.\u201d The quote is from the on-line edition of The Pilot, <\/i>the venerable newspaper of the Boston Archdiocese, which featured the story this week<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here\u2019s another set, from Ireland. It belonged to Brother Tom\u2019s grandparents.\u00a0 <\/p>\n I spoke briefly with Brother Tom, whom I expected to be a bit of a romantic, if not postively mushy about his hobby. He was anything but. Very matter-of-fact, very friendly without pushing himself, the Marist brother with a fully developed Friar Tuck paunch told me that he is an instructor of theology at Malden Catholic High School. He lives at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Peabody, where the display is mounted, and serves as a pastoral associate in the parish.<\/p>\n This is one of my favorite pieces in the collection. As the caption notes, it was created by a homeless woman. <\/p>\n Here\u2019s a set from Africa made of banana leaves.<\/p>\n Wandering through rooms filled with tables displaying the collection, it was easy to wander in my own memories: back to my Ammie\u2019s house in Minnesota in the 1950s. My grandmother, whom I wrote about here<\/a> and who converted to the Catholic Church late in life, made a big deal about getting me over to her house on Lake Minnetonka on a wintry afternoon to set up her elaborate creche on the grand piano in her living room. She had twenty-six grandchildren when all was said and done, but I was, she always reminded me proudly, her oldest grandson, <\/i>and I returned pride with pride. Since her oldest grandchild<\/i>, my cousin Mary, lived in Connecticut, I had the singular honor of setting up the creche with Ammie\u2014and first choice of her Christmas cookies.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_dmDaLWNETzg\/SyN9apfh3hI\/AAAAAAAAApY\/QURSaA7g-XU\/s320\/IMG_0225.JPG\")
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