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The Nativity of Mercy
Photos by New York Scugnizzo
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By Giovanni di Napoli
“The Nativity of Mercy” was officially unveiled Tuesday night at Most Precious Blood Church in Manhattan’s Little Italy in honor of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and beginning of Pope Francis’ Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. Commissioned by Monsignor Donald Sakano, the Neapolitan
presepio was crafted by the world renowned
La Scarabottola workshop in Naples. Replete with symbolism, the myriad figures were inspired by Caravaggio’s masterpiece,
The Seven Acts of Mercy (circa 1607), and Rembrandt van Rijn’s
The Return of the Prodigal Son (circa 1669).
The ceremony kicked off with the blessing of the
presepio, followed by Mass celebrated with Most Reverend Bishop John O’Hara. Afterward, guests were invited into the church courtyard for the annual Christmas tree lighting, complete with festive music, cider and hot chocolate. The festivities continued inside the church rectory with a delicious Italian buffet and some red and white wine.
Many thanks to Monsignor Sakano, Bill Russo, John Amerise and the rest of the parish staff for their hard work, dedication and continued support to the Italian American Catholic community.
There were too many figures to show in a single post, so I decided to share my photos in two parts, starting with the front of the
presepio tonight and the rest
tomorrow.
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The Three Magi, Melchior (representing Dawn), Gaspar (Day)
and Balthazar (Night) visit the new born King |
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| Among the herald angels are Glory of the Father holding the scroll that reads "Gloria in Excelsis Deo" and Glory of the Son with the thurible |
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| Glory of the Holy Spirit plays the trumpet |
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| (Left) Shackled, the Devil is unable to hinder the birth of the Savior. (Right) St. Francis of Assisi, who is credited with creating the first nativity scene in 1223 |
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| The birth of Jesus is proclaimed by the angels. Sleeping shepherd boy, Benino dreams of the crib. His father Armenzio symbolizes the coming New Year |
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| (Left) The day after the birth of Christ, women without children were prevented from seeing the baby Jesus. Undeterred, the barren Stefania wrapped a rock in a blanket and visited the Holy Family. In the presence of the Blessed Mother the rock sneezed and became a real child. (Right) A prophetic sibyl holds a basket with the tools (pliers, hammer and nails) used during the Crucifixion. |
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| Each vendor symbolizes a month of the year. Pictured are the cheese seller, who represents February, and the cherry seller, who represents the month of May. |
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| A member of King Balthazar's regal retinue |
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| Bishop O'Hara blesses the presepio |
