The papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome can be described as the nativity basilica of the West. In fact, the holy crib brings together Bethlehem and Rome. This is because while Bethlehem hosted the first crib with the mystic birth of the Son of God more than 2,000 years ago and the nativity basilica was founded, not much time elapsed before the sanctuary in Rome was built. The connection of Rome’s basilica with the holy crib resulted in the basilica to be known as Santa Maria ad Praesepe.

Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the four papal basilicas, the others being the Lateran, St Peter’s and San Paolo Fuori le Mura. These four basilicas together with San Lorenzo Fuori Le Mura were, until the pontificate of Benedict XVI, the five patriarchal basilicas. The title of ‘maggiore’ (major) refers both to its importance in Christendom and for the fact that it is the largest Marian temple in Rome.

The founding of the basilica goes back to the fourth century. On August 5, 352AD, in the middle of the Roman summer, an area of the Esquiline Hill in Rome was found covered in snow. A Roman patrician named John and his wife, who had no children to inherit their wealth and who had promised their inheritance to the Holy Mother of God, claimed that the Holy Mary revealed to them that she wanted a church dedicated to her to be built on the Esquiline.

Soon, Pope Liberius (352-366) revealed that he himself had a similar dream and this was taken as a sign that a church had to be built on the snow covered site. So the patrician and his wife gave their wealth for this blessed purpose. The so called Liberian Basilica, after St Liberius, was later dedicated to Our Lady of the Snow. Since 1568 the Roman Missal used to refer to the feast of the dedication of the Basilica of Our Lady of Snow on August 5, until its adjournment in 1969. It is said that even in those early days, Pope St Liberius had already found a kind of a nativity crib in the church, commonly called tettoie, built in the form of a stable from tree branches.

Pope Sixtus III (434-440) continued the building or completely rebuilt the basilica. In fact, an inscription on the triumphal arch recalls him: Yxstus, Episcopus, Plebi Dei: Sixtus, Pope of the People of God. During his pontificate the basilica was dedicated to the Holy Mother of God due to the Council of Ephesus, held in 431, which proclaimed the Holy Mary as the Mother of God. The council, called by the Holy Roman Emperor Theodosius II, condemned the teachings of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, which said that the Virgin Mary was the mother of Christ as human but not as God. Although the council took place during the pontificate of St Celestine (423-432), its final declarations were approved by Sixtus III in 432. Its proclamation is recalled by the mosic scenes in the basilica referring to the maternity of the Virgin Mother according to the Holy Gospel.

A marble statue representing Pope Pius IX kneeling in prayer before the precious reliquary.

The absence of a nativity scene can only be explained by the presence of a chapel dedicated to the Nativity of Jesus Christ in the basilica’s crypt. Tradition holds that this was built with bricks brought from Bethlehem itself. The chapel was called Domus Sanctae Genetricis (Blessed Mary’s home). It was soon to be called ‘praesepe’. As far as it is known, this was the very first time that the term ‘praesepe’, meaning stable, was used in connection with the nativity of Our Lord. Since primitive writings and forms of art of the nativity, the stable had an important connotation. Since those times, the term ‘praesepe’ had been meaning every kind of art referring to the nativity scene. Eventually, the basilica was called Sancta Maria ad Praesepe.

It was in this crypt that the Christmas midnight Mass was first celebrated by the pontiff for a small congregation

It was in this crypt that the Christmas midnight Mass was first celebrated by the pontiff for a small congregation.

One of the images of Holy Mary Mother of God (Theotokos), and probably the most important as it is said to have been painted by St Luke, is that venerated in the Cappella Borghese of Santa Maria Maggiore. It is said that this image was brought to Rome by St Helena and then Pope Liberius brought it to his basilica. The devotional painting known as Salus Populi Romani (salvation of the Roman people) was taken processionally around the streets of Rome by St Gregory the Great (590-604) during the plague epidemic. During the procession, the people saw an image of the Archangel St Michael on Hadrian’s Wall, today’s Castel Sant’ Angelo, shielding his sword as a sign that the city of Rome was saved from the turmoil.

Many popes showed their devotion to the Holy Mother by endowing the image or praying before it. The day after his election, the present Pope Francis knelt before the miraculous image in prayer.

In 649, St Sofronius, the patriarch of Jerusalem, could not celebrate Mass in the Nativity Basilica of Bethlehem. There was the fear of an imminent attack by Saracens and there was a preoppucation of what to do with the relics of the nativity manger. The basilica in Rome was considered to be the safest, so the relics were transfered to Santa Maria ad Praesepe in Rome during the pontificate of Pope Theodore (642-649). During the reign of Pius IX (1846-1878) the relic, consisting of four panels of sycamore wood, was placed in a silver and crystal artistic reliquary by Giuseppe Valadier and put beneath the high altar of the basilica. A marble statue was founded representing Pope Pius IX kneeling in prayer before the precious reliquary.

During the 13th century, while the chapel of the presepio in the basilica was being restored, Florentine architect and sculpture Arnolfo di Cambio was commissioned by the first Franciscan pope, Nicholas IV, a set of marble statuettes of the nativity and the magi. These statuettes are considered to be the first nativity figurines ever to be created as until then, the nativity scenes were always sculpted as bas-reliefs. Di Cambio’s crib consists of five blocks of white marble sculpted with the figures of Mary holding baby Jesus, St Joseph, the heads of the ox and mule, and the three magi.

The original figure of Mary was always thought to be a copy of the original. However, according to a contribution in The Times of Malta of January 18, 2006, the present statue was considered to be a work of the late 16th century as part of the funerary monument to Pope Sixtus V. During the last restoration in the beginning of our century, doubts were shed about this theory. Irregularities found on the statue show that parts of it were resculpted while drapery folds are not alien to the style of Arnolfo.

The restoration of the Tuscan artist’s crib was carried out by restorers led by Sante Guido, who was responsible for works of restoration in Malta. It was inaugurated during the Advent of 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI.

The reliquary, which contains pieces of ancient wood said to be part of the manger.

St Gaetan of Thiene was so devoted to the mystery of incarnation that he could not stay away from the praesepe of the Basilica of Rome. He is also renowned as the founder of the popular Neapolitan crib. Gaetan was born in Vicenza in 1480. He went to Rome in 1506 where he was a most charitable person towards the poor, sick, dying and prisoners.

He was ordained a priest in 1516 and celebrated his first holy Mass on the altar of Santa Maria ad Praesepe. In this same shrine, on Christmas Eve, before the blessed relics of the holy manger, the saint had a vision of the Virgin Mother giving him the newborn Baby Jesus. In a letter to Sr Laura Mignani he stated, “At the very hour of his most holy birth, I drew close to the crib, and given strength by my beloved father, blessed Jerome, (whose remains lie in the Nativity crypt) who was devoted to the holy crib, and with the confidence that he gave to me, I received from the hands of the spotless Virgin, my protectress, who had recently become a mother, the Holy Infant, the Word Incarnate”.

It was an event which burnt his heart with fire of love to the mystery of the birth of the Son of God. He passed the devotion to the holy crib to the Order of the Theatines which he himself had found and approved in 1524 by Pope Clement VII. In 1533 he was the first superior of the order in Naples. There he built a church dedicated to Santa Maria della Stalletta in remembrance of the holy crib. He started to build some form of crib with clothed figurines to represent the scene of the nativity. Other churches in Naples started to make artistic representations of the nativity which eventually led to the dawning of the monumental Neapolitan crib.

When the Chapel of the Sacrament was being built to hold the already mentioned funerary monument of Sixtus V, commissioned by the pontiff himself, the nativity crypt suffered damages and some works were lost. What is seen today is the result of the works carried out during the 16th century.

In preparing this article, the author referred to the following sources: Presepi Artistici e Popolari by Luciano Zeppegno (De Agostini, 1968); The Christmas Crib by Nesta de Robeck (Burns, Oates & Washbourne Limited, 1938); Il Presepe Napoletano by Franco Mancini (Societa’ Editrice Napoletana, 1983); Del Nome di Santa Maria Ad Praesepe-1854 by Francesco Liverani (Kessinger Publishing, 2010); International Marian Research Institute of M. Duricy website; and the Times of Malta edition of January 18, 2006.