Word: offing
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Wise Men & Gifts. Long before the date of Christmas was fixed in the calendar (by Pope Julius I in the middle of the 4th century), the cave or stable in Bethlehem had been an object of veneration. St. Justin Martyr mentioned the present Grotto of the Nativity as early as...
The Gospel does not tell how many Wise Men there were; according to St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine there were twelve, but tradition soon narrowed them to three-presumably because of the three gifts they brought. As far back as the and century, the church assigned symbolical meaning to the...
A Second Bethlehem. After the elements of the Nativity scene were established, the first recorded real crèche was made in 1223 by St. Francis of Assisi. Christmas had always been for him the "Feast of Feasts" when "God condescended to be fed by human love." In the church...
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The Greccio crib had an instant appeal to the people, with its direct and silent simplicity in an age when the mystery plays had become elaborate and verbose. More and more, painters and sculptors began to concentrate on the episodes surrounding the birth of Jesus, and Renaissance nobles as well...