The huge presepio on display at the Shrine Church of the Most Precious Blood depicts not only the birth of Jesus, but also dozens of other characters from the Neapolitan tradition.
This is not your average Christmas decoration.
The massive, Neapolitan-style nativity scene, or presepio, that greets visitors to the Shrine Church of the Most Precious Blood carries on an 800-year-old tradition, but its message is very current.
One corner of the display shows scenes from Caravaggio’s painting “The Seven Acts of Mercy,” with a man clothing the naked, a woman visiting a prisoner as well as feeding him, while behind her a man welcomes a homeless man indoors.
“The whole concept was that the nativity scene would be centered on the theme of the Holy Year of Mercy,” said parishioner Bill Russo, who helped bring the Neapolitan display to the church from Italy.
Pope Francis declared 2016 to be an “Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy” offering special blessings and indulgences to the faithful.
The Shrine Church on Baxter St. at Canal commissioned a family of Italian artisans to craft a presepio following that theme, and they drew inspiration two classical paintings — “The Prodigal Son” by Rembrandt and “The Seven Acts of Mercy” by Caravaggio. One corner of the display shows scenes from Caravaggio’s painting depicting the seven “corporal works of mercy” which tend to the physical needs of others, including a man clothing the naked, a woman visiting a prisoner and feeding him, a man bringing a homeless man indoors.
Nearby, a boatload of children is welcomed ashore by a shepherd, symbolizing the mercy the church encourages for refugees — a very contemporary issue.
The presepio’s theme of mercy has particular resonance for the Shine Church, which is one of select number of churches around the world designated by the Vatican to have “Holy Doors” for the jubilee year. Pilgrims passing through the doors over the next year are entitled to special indulgences and blessings.
The Neapolitan tradition of the presepio goes back centuries. St. Francis of Assisi is said to have been the first to construct a display of figurines representing the birth of Jesus in the 13th century. But in Naples, people began to embellish the Biblical scene by adding contemporary figures and characters from other stories in the Christian tradition, and developing conventional tropes of their own.
A Neapolitan presepio traditionally depicts a group of merchants, for example, selling goods symbolizing the different months of the year, as well as a musician playing the tammorra — or tambourine — as a couple dances the Tarantella, a dance typical of southern Italy.
In addition to strictly Christian characters, A Neapolitan presepio features traditional Italian characters, such a merchants of goods that represent different months of the year – the chicken vendor represent the month of March, for example, while the vendor roasting chestnuts represents November. To the right, a couple dances the Tarantella, a dance typical of southern Italy, while a musician plays the tammorra – or tambourine.
The boatload of children being welcomed ashore represents refugees from around the world seeking mercy.
The centerpiece of the display, of course, is the bouncing baby boy.
