Christmas, Jews and Christians

Dec. 22, 2010 - Tradition attributes the Christmas crèche or manger scene to St. Francis of Assisi, while the decorations that have become so much a part of the Christmas season in America—especially the tree and its trimmings—are generally regarded as having come into our culture via Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, consort of Queen Victoria.

Yet in reading a fine collection of brief selections from the Fathers of the Church for the Advent and Christmas seasons, published by the Libreria Editrice Vaticana, I found the following introduction to a passage from one of the great Eastern Fathers, Gregory Nazianzen, in which the Italian author, Marco Pappalardo, challenges us to “put on” Christmas by reference to even more ancient aspects of the biblical account of the Lord’s birth, which undergird so much of what we think of as Christmas tradition...

[read more]