L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 20 L'Italo-Americano N o t m a n y a r e familiar with t h e n a m e " G r e c c i o , " a n d p e r h a p s not even with the place. This p r e t t y h a m l e t o f 1 , 5 0 0 i s located on the Apennines, in the Rieti province of Lazio, and is one of the Borghi più Belli d'Italia. But if you are devout to, or interested in the historical figure of Saint F r a n c i s o f A s s i s i y o u know Greccio is important for the cult of Saint Francis and it is also the place where h e c r e a t e d t h e f i r s t e v e r presepe. If we say presepe today, our mind travels immediate- ly to the colorful streets of Naples, and to San Grego- rio Armeno, the heart of pre- sepe-making craftsmanship. But this beautiful Italian tra- dition goes well beyond art, heritage and folklore, it is imbued with spirituality and faith. At the heart and origin of it, one man, Francis of Assisi, and one small village, Greccio. S a i n t F r a n c i s v i s i t e d Greccio for the first time in 1209: those were difficult times for its people because c r o p s h a d b e e n f a i l i n g t o provide sufficient food for the community. Francesco, who kept visiting for years, l i k e d G r e c c i o b e c a u s e i t reminded him, he said, of B e t h l e h e m . A n d s o h e stayed, living in a small hut on Mount Lacerone, bring- ing comfort and prayers to its people, who often asked him to settle there. The connection between Greccio and Francesco was strong, and so was his desire to recreate in Italy the emo- tions and deeply spiritual experience he had enjoyed when, in 1219, he had visited the Holy Land. Francesco had traveled all the way to Palestine to bring a word of peace to a land torn, in those years, by the violence of the Fifth Crusade. Once he was back in Italy, he found that Greccio and its surroundings reminded him a lot of the b e a u t y a n d s i m p l i c i t y o f Bethlehem and Palestine. T o s a y i t w i t h h i s f i r s t hagiographer, Tommaso d a C e l a n o - whose work was approved by Pope Gre- gory IX in 1229, only one y e a r a f t e r F r a n c e s c o h a d been canonized and three after his death - the saint wanted to fare memoria del B a m b i n o c h e è n a t o a Betlemme, to remember the Child born in Bethlehem, w i t h s o m e t h i n g s p e c i a l . Here I follow, to tell you all the story of the first pre- sepe, the beautiful narration made by Sara Alessandri- ni in her own travel blog (https://www.saralessan- drini.it), where you can also find an interesting icono- graphic commentary of the artistic depiction of Saint Francis' first presepe found in the Chapel of the First Live Nativity, in Greccio. The tale of the presepe di Greccio comes at the end of the first section of Tomma- so da Celano's Vita Sancti Francisci, which highlights the importance of the event in the life of the saint. We are in the winter of 1223, and Francesco was in Grec- cio, where he had met, some times earlier, a local noble- m a n , G i o v a n n i V e l i t a , known for his good nature and good heart. Francesco a n d G i o v a n n i b e c a m e friends. A couple of weeks before Christmas, Francesco had an idea, but he soon realized he needed Giovanni's help to make it a reality, so he told him: "If you want we celebrate the Feast of the Lord in Greccio, swift and diligently gather what I ask y o u f o r . I w o u l d l i k e t o remember the Child born in Bethlehem, showing some- h o w t h e h a r d s h i p s a n d p o v e r t y i n w h i c h H e w a s b o r n , a n d t h e l a c k o f a l l t h o s e t h i n g s a n e w b o r n needs. I want to show how He was placed on hay in a manger, between an ox and a donkey." And so, Giovanni f o u n d a g r o t t o , h a d a manger built in it and filled it with hay. Then, he had an ox and a donkey brought to the place in time for Christ- mas Eve mass. During the e u c h a r i s t , T o m m a s o d a C e l a n o s a y s , a c h i l d a p p e a r e d i n t h e m a n g e r , and Saint Francis held it gently in his arms. It was the first living r e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f t h e nativity, the first presepe. T o t h i s f i r s t m i r a c l e , many more followed thanks to the hay that, during that special night, had filled the manger: it cured animals of i l l n e s s e s a n d i t h e l p e d women deliver their babies in safety and without risks. Many people who came to the grotto with ailments and diseases, were miraculously healed, too. But to be truthful to his- t o r y , w e s h o u l d s a y t h a t , perhaps, Francesco had also a more "political" aim in mind, when he decided to create a living nativity in Greccio: in those years the Pope, Honorius III, lived in Rieti, not far from Greccio itself. By creating a spiritu- ally charged representation of Christ's birth there, just a stone's throw from his holi- ness, Francesco wanted to demonstrate that there was no need to keep on fighting for Jerusalem because the s a c r a l i t y o f C h r i s t ' s l i f e c o u l d b e c e l e b r a t e d a n d understood everywhere. Today, in the very place where that first nativity was recreated, stands the Her- mitage of Greccio Sanctu- ary, one of the four shrines F r a n c e s c o c r e a t e d i n t h e Sacred Valley (the others a r e t h e S a n c t u a r y o f t h e F o r e s t , t h e S a n c t u a r y o f F o n t e C o l o m b o a n d t h e Convent of Poggio Bustone): h e r e i s t h e C h a p e l o f t h e First Live Nativity. Since 1 9 7 2 , G r e c c i o h a s b e e n recreating Saint Francis' live nativity for all faithful to see, usually in the part of the village near the castle. T h i s h o l i d a y s e a s o n , t h e Presepe Vivente di Greccio can be seen until the 8th of January. GIULIA FRANCESCHINI The Holy Family in a Nativity in Greccio (Photo: Giuseppe Di Paolo/Dreamstime) Greccio and the first presepe in history LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE TRADITIONS

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