L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 24 L'Italo-Americano I n the narrative of the Gospels, the birth o f C h r i s t d o e s n ' t take up much space: the focus, as those among you who went to cat- e c h i s m a s c h i l d r e n m a y remember, is all on the last three years of his life, those when he began preaching around Palestine. Outside the Gospels, there w a s a c e r t a i n p a u c i t y o f information about the Son of Man and his life, exception made, once again, for the years of his travels across Palestine, when he gathered around himself a community that was considered subver- sive by both Roman rulers and local Jewish elites. So, where does the whole mangiatoia-bue-asinello t r i p t y c h c o m e f r o m , a n d what did really happen on the night Jesus was born? Now, if we really wanted to delve into the historicity of Christ, we'd need all of 2022 L'Italo-Americano's edi- tions and hours of research, so we'll try to keep it as sim- ple as possible. What do we really know about the birth of Christ? As said, our sources are not many: of the four gospels two, Mark and John, don't e v e n m e n t i o n i t a n d Matthew only tells us he was born in Bethlehem under king Herod Antipas. Only L u k e o f f e r s s o m e m o r e details. In fact, all this cir- cumspection shouldn't sur- p r i s e , i f w e c o n s i d e r t h e frame of mind of the first Christians, for whom speak- ing of Jesus as a physical person was a tad frivolous. E v e n i n l a t e r c e n t u r i e s , F a t h e r s o f t h e C h u r c h Clement of Alexandria and Orygen dismissed the mat- ter, the latter stating that only "sinners celebrate their date of birth." Ouch. But let's go back to Luke's description of Jesus's birth. I n t h e s h o r t p a r a g r a p h where he writes about it, Luke doesn't mention any donkey and ox, nor grotto, just a couple of young par- ents and a manger. And what about the date? Well, Luke doesn't mention the month of December, either, and certainly doesn't name a day. So what do we know? Did shepherds really surround the young family to worship the child they considered the Son of God? Well, if they did, it's likely Jesus wasn't born in December at all, because Winters in Judea are cold and it was unlikely shep- herds and their flock would sleep outdoors. The question of the date of Jesus' birth has been long debated, with most agreeing that the 25 th of December was, in fact, chosen at a later stage to incorporate into Christian liturgy old, well- established pagan festiv- ities: again, this shouldn't really surprise us at all, nor should we see it as proof of Jesus a-historicity. Quite simply, Christmas wasn't cel- e b r a t e d o p e n l y u n t i l t h e Christians were no longer persecuted and could wor- ship out in plain air. We are talking the 3 rd century AD, guys: three hundred years of prayers and faith hidden f r o m t h e w o r l d a l m o s t entirely. It shouldn't sur- prise, so, that Christmas was celebrated on different dates depending on the area of the w o r l d y o u w e r e b e c a u s e every Christian community had reinterpreted what they from the Gospels their own w a y . W i t h C h r i s t i a n i t y becoming the official religion of the Empire in the 4 th cen- tury, there was a need for unity, but also a need for proselytism. And so, con- s i d e r i n g t h e r e w a s l i t t l e information to pinpoint his- torically and scientifically when Jesus was born, it was decided to pick a date that was already important, the d i e s n a t a l i s o f t h e S o l Invictus, the birthday of the Triumphant Sun, a god that dominated on others, a per- fect symbol for the monothe- istic God and His Son Jesus. Officially, Christmas began being celebrated on the 25 th of December under Pope Julius I, in 352, some 40 y e a r s a f t e r C h r i s t i a n i t y became legal in the Empire. L e t ' s l o o k n o w a t t h e imagery of Jesus' birth: what does Tu Scendi dalle Stelle say? E vieni in una grotta, you were born in a grotto, yet there is no men- tion of any grotto in Luke, nor of the donkey and the ox: all of these traditional features of the nativity - and of our presepe – come actu- ally from the apocryphal gospels. What about the comet? Well… we can thank one of the most talented Italians ever born, Giotto, for that. He added it as a picturesque detail in his Cappella degli S c r o v e g n i ' s f r e s c o e s , i n Padova, and it's been part of Christmas iconography ever since. Yet, we shouldn't dis- count the presence of a star, a special, different one, at the time of Jesus' birth. To learn more about it, we need to look into the Gospel of James, which is apocryphal and dedicated to the miracu- lous conception of the Virgin Mary, her upbringing, her marriage with Joseph, the birth of Jesus, and the early events after it. Here we learn that, when Jesus was born, there was a large, very bright star in the sky, different from all others. Now, this is very important because, if we understand what star James talked about, we may just be able to understand when Jesus was actually born. F a m o u s G e r m a n a s t r o n o m e r J o h a n n e s Kepler unraveled the mys- tery for us in 1603, in a short t r e a t i s e n a m e d D e A n n o Natali Christi, or On the Birth Year of Christ: here he explains that the incredibly bright star mentioned in the Gospel of James could have been, in fact, the conjunction of two planets, in our case Jupiter and Saturn. When this happens, the two astral bodies look, to the eyes of us terrestrials, just like a single, incredibly bright star, much larger than all others. H i s t o r i a n s t e l l u s t h a t Jupiter and Saturn were con- joined three times in the year we call "7 BC" today, and that the phenomenon was so r e l e v a n t B a b y l o n i a n astronomers recorded it in their documents. Could this be the "star" of the Wise Kings? Was Jesus born 7 years before we traditionally place the date of his birth? It could well be so, and infor- mation from the Gospels and in Roman history testify it. The date is compatible with Matthew saying Jesus was born during the reign of Herod Antipas, and even the d a t e o f t h e c e n s u s , s e t around 6 AD by Jewish his- torian Flavius Josephus, is in f a c t n o t s o c e r t a i n , w i t h many modern scholars antic- ipating it to 6-8 BC. Et le jeux sont fait. So, you see, it's not only a m a t t e r o f h o w t h e f i r s t Christmas was but also of when it was. That of the his- torical Jesus is a fascinating subject, for historians and faithful alike, and history, as all sciences, should never be considered an enemy of faith by those who believe. If any- t h i n g , h i s t o r y c a n h e l p understand better the world where Christianity originat- e d a n d s u p p o r t a d e e p e r sense of belonging to it, if you're so inclined. And for t h e r e s t o f u s , J e s u s , h i s birth, life, and death remain one of the most interesting mysteries in the history of humanity, a mystery though, that contributed more than any other to the develop- ment of our civilization. FRANCESCA BEZZONE A representation of the Nativity, as we imagine it took place (Photo: Joop Kleuskens/Dreamstime) H o w w a s , f o r r e a l , t h e fi r s t Christmas in history? HERITAGE HISTORY IDENTITY TRADITIONS PEOPLE

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