Have you heard the origin of the first nativity?

In 1223 there was a monk named Saint Francis of Assisi. He was a man who had renounced his previous life as a warrior and the son of a well to do merchant. He had decided to give his whole life to the Lord after a period of great discontent and after receiving several signs and hearing a divine call to “rebuild my church.” He gave everything away he owned, and even was rejected by his dad, in order to proclaim the love of Jesus to all who would hear. He would beg for his food and live the most simple life so that others would know Jesus.

Saint Francis would take pilgrimages and he had been specifically inspired by a recent trip to the Holy Land. Seeing things first hand greatly moved him. So, as Christmas approached a great idea came to him. What if the people could see in person what it was like, not just in a picture painted, but in real life – what God had done on the birth day of Jesus? What if they could see baby Jesus lying in a manger next to the sheep and cattle with his mother and father watching over them? He wondered might they be moved by such a scene as this: God with us in the form of a little baby wrapped in a manger? Might this be a better way for them to focus on the person who really mattered rather than the distraction of the holiday season that was present even in those days? Saint Francis said, according to the first biographer Thomas of Celano in 1255, “I want to do something that will recall the memory of that child who was born in Bethlehem, to see with bodily eyes the inconveniences of his infancy, how he lay in the manger, and how the ox and ass stood by."

So in a cave near Grecco, Italy, on Christmas Eve, – Saint Francis gathered human actors and animals to do something that had never been done before: display first hand what it was like when God came with us. He kept his plans a secret to the whole town, and when evening came he lit the torches around the edge of the cave and gathered all the people in town and said he had a surprise for them. He was going to lead them to see something very special. As he beheld the special gift he had created for his parishioners he was, according to St. Bonaventure, another early biographer, bathed with tears and overflowing with joy. Then he went and gathered the towns people for Christmas eve service and led them out of the church and town to the cave he had prepared.

Can you imagine the joy that must have been present in the people as they turned the corner and beheld in the shadows Mary and Joseph standing above a swaddled baby. As the people beheld the very first live nativity scene, St. Francis held the church service there where there were many sighs of amazement, the grounds reverberated with the singing and rejoicing. In the night there were echoes of jubilation and such marvelous joy for many had forgotten or perhaps never visualized the reality of this child, who was God, who had really been on the earth. And now, through the small act of grace – God had used Saint Francis to awaken hearts. When the mass was ended they all returned home with great joy and wonder.

The legend tells, from both biographers, that the hay from that manger was given to sick animals and they got well. People too were healed and found health upon visiting this cave. After a while a temple of the Lord was dedicated there.