"The wonderful symbol of the nativity scene, so dear to the Christian people, always arouses wonder and amazement. Representing the event of Jesus' birth is equivalent to announcing the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God with simplicity and joy. The nativity scene, in fact, is like a living Gospel, overflowing from the pages of Sacred Scripture." These are the words of Pope Francis in his Apostolic Letter Admirabile Signum, on the meaning and value of the nativity scene. We propose a "special pilgrimage" with Brother Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land, together with the characters who witnessed the birth of Jesus. As a guide: the biblical texts, the historical data and the origin of the secular tradition. Br FRANCESCO PATTON, ofm Custos of the Holy Land "The Italian word Presepe is a Latin word, it means manger and therefore it indicates the manger in which Mary, as the evangelist Luke tells us, after giving birth to Jesus, wrapped him in swaddling clothes and placed him in the Manger. So it is from the Manger that the representation of the scene then took meaning." The first historical evidence of the crib dates back to the third/fourth century, but the first crib in the modern sense of the term is that staged by St. Francis of Assisi at Christmas 1223, in the small town of Greccio in Italy. Br FRANCESCO PATTON, ofm Custos of the Holy Land "The originality of St. Francis is to have made in some way a living nativity scene, in the sense that the shepherds participate in that celebration, all the people and then, Thomas of Celano, who is the first biographer, says that it seems that Greccio has become another Bethlehem. In some way the whole scene of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem is recreated in this small town in the valley of Rieti in Lazio." Br FRANCESCO PATTON, ofm Custos of the Holy Land "Francis asked for special permission to be able to celebrate above the Manger. So that he could see with his own eyes the scene that he had seen a couple of years before when he had been a pilgrim here in the Holy Land and to be able to celebrate the Eucharist above the manger helped the Christians of that time to understand the mystery of the Incarnation and how Jesus made himself small in the Incarnation, so Jesus continues to make himself small, to give himself to us in the Eucharist." Yes, it's true, there is no need for many words in this "new Bethlehem" set in the heart of the Lazio Apennines - Pope Francis said during his visit to Greccio last year to sign the Apostolic Letter Admirabile Signum-. "the scene that is placed before our eyes - Pope Francis emphasizes - expresses the wisdom we need to grasp the essential." In the Gospel accounts of St. Luke and St. Matthew, we find the first characters. In the account of St. Luke and St. Matthew we find the first characters. Br FRANCESCO PATTON, ofm Custos of the Holy Land "The main characters are Mary, the mother of Jesus, Joseph, the putative father of Jesus, the one who introduces him into the lineage of David, and obviously the child Jesus who is the main character. Then in Luke's account we find other characters: we find, for example, the shepherds and the angels; it is Luke the evangelist who tells us that when Jesus is born, and is laid in the manger, let's say more or less at the same time, not far from Bethlehem, in the place that we know very well, beit sahour, the shepherds' field, the angels appear to the shepherds who were keeping watch. I announce to you a great joy; today for you in the city of David a Savior has been born, and the angel adds, this is a sign for you, you will see the child laid in the manger and his mother." Br FRANCESCO PATTON, ofm Custos of the Holy Land "And then the other scene in which the choirs of angels appear and the one in which the angels begin to sing: Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to the men he loves; or to men of good will depending on how one translates the word used by Luke the Evangelist. These are the characters we find and these characters move from the shepherds' field to Bethlehem, to the place where Mary gave birth to the baby Jesus." Br FRANCESCO PATTON, ofm Custos of the Holy Land "It will be the Protovangel of James, an apocryphal gospel that tells us that Jesus was born in a cave. And then it will be the tradition that reminds us that he was born in a cave; not only reminds us, but tells us in which cave: the cave that we venerate as the Grotto of the Nativity." Br FRANCESCO PATTON, ofm Custos of the Holy Land "The shepherds spread the news, and then the evangelist Luke adds a detail, that other people also rejoice at this birth and we already imagine the scene of the nativity scene, set on Christmas Day, and we see all these characters arriving toward the cave of Jesus." Br FRANCESCO PATTON, ofm Custos of the Holy Land "In one of the representations, perhaps the most famous, that of the Neapolitan nativity scene, all kinds of craftsmen, people, and characters enter and go towards the baby Jesus. This is not nonsense; it is a profound truth, an interpretation, an actualization: having heard the announcement of the shepherds, all of us, no matter what work we do, are invited to go towards the grotto, towards the manger, and to adore the child Jesus who is born for us as Savior and who brings us this great joy, this peace that only God can bring to us." Br FRANCESCO PATTON, ofm Custos of the Holy Land "The wish that the child Jesus can enter inside our homes, as Pope Francis said during one of his Christmas messages, the wish that Jesus can be laid this year not in any manger, but inside the family, I dare say, inside the manger that is the heart of each of us, because this is the most authentic way to celebrate Christmas, The Christmas wish for those who follow us through the CMC is that each and every one of us succeed in welcoming that child and succeed in becoming that living cradle that welcomes him and informs others." In the second episode : In St. Matthew's account, the presence of the Magi who bring gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Child Jesus. Pope Francis returns to the Holy Land a fragment of the relic of the cradle of the Child Jesus kept in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, in Rome.