Saint Who?
Saints Who Exemplify Devotion
to the Christ Child
Saint Francis of Assisi
Founder († 1226) Feast: October 4
The earliest biography of Saint Francis of Assisi was written by Thomas of Celano. Francis, Celano tells us, was entirely focused on the Gospel, and loved especially to meditate upon “the humility of the Incarnation and the charity of the Passion.” And it was with these mysteries in mind that he decided to set up the living manger scene at Greccio.
Francis sent a disciple before him: “Make haste to go before and diligently prepare what I tell you. For I would make memorial of that Child who was born in Bethlehem, and in some sort behold with bodily eyes his infant hardships; how he lay in a manger on the hay, with the ox and the ass standing by.” The scene was duly arranged, complete with animals and hay. (Later the hay was reported to have healing capabilities.)
The candlelit celebration rang with joyous song. Then there was a Christmas Mass on the altar constructed above the manger. Francis—a deacon—chanted the Gospel and preached. One man reported a vision of a child unconscious in the manger, who was wakened by the saint. “The child Jesus,” Thomas of Celano remarks, “had been given over to forgetfulness in the hearts of many in whom, by the working of his grace, he was raised up again through his servant Francis and imprinted on a diligent memory.”
Heavenly Father, through the prayers of
Saint Francis of Assisi, help us to celebrate
Christmas with renewed joy.
