The first Christmas Creche (Nativity Scene)

 sanctuary, monastery, franciscan, catholicism

The first historically recorded Bethlehem Christmas Creche (Nativity Scene) 24 December 1223 , in the very center of Italy . Three years before the death of St. Francis led a group of barefoot monks cheerfully singing crowd of local residents believers to rise above the mountains Lacerone Greccio to a simple convent, which consisted of a couple of through caves. One of them was a layer of straw and primitive crib were placed in a corner of the cave. Friendly ass and call a St. Francis borrowed from a local feudal lord. Sketches into vibrant Bethlehem also participated in 12 enthusiasts who brought the room to him, gutters and animals can feed. All night procession of villagers braved freezing and snowfall with torches illuminate darkness. The cave was too small to be missed for all, so that believers shivering outside in the woods. The ritual has since been celebrated annually in Grecco. Later it spread around the world but Greccio and its sanctuary is a place where the first nativity scene in the world. The cave remained over the centuries virtually unchanged, with the exception of Bethlehem frescoes painted on the wall created by the painter Giotto di Bondone to order followers and admirers around one hundred years after St. Francis died in the 1226th

Hermitage and Sanctuary in Grecco is one of the four shrines built St. Francis, along with sanctuary Fonte Colombo, the Forest Sanctuary and monastery Poggio Bustone . Located about 15 km from the capital city of the province of Rieti , is located at an altitude of 665 meters above sea level, in the rocks of the mountains in the immediate vicinity of the medieval village of Greccio with spectacular views of the wide valley of Rieti.
www.presepedigreccio.it/
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