History of the Precious Relic of the Holy Manger of the Child Jesus.
“And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:7)
The early church father Origen in the 3rd Century and St. Jeronimo in the 4th Century claimed they had seen the manger in Bethlehem’s Grotto of the Nativity, the birthplace of Jesus. The remains of the Holy Manger of Jesus Child (also known as “The Holy Crib” or “Sacra Culla”), kept in the custody of various Christians of the Holy Land, were brought to Rome in the year 642 as an offering from St. Sophronius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem to the newly elected Pope Theodore I, who was himself a native of Palestine. The Precious Relic has been preserved for over 1400 years, encased in an opulent silver and crystal cradle-shaped reliquary placed in a chapel under the main altar of the Titular Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Every year, it is venerated by thousands of pilgrims from all over the world. The Holy Relic consists of five boards, blackened with age, that are kept in a sumptuous reliquary. Four of the boards are considered to be boards from the Holy Manger. One board is different than the others. On its surface, there are Greek characters that are understood to be a note etched by an artist as a reminder of religious figures still to be sculptured. The remaining four boards, two of which are nearly a meter, were examined in 1893 and were found to be of sycamore wood, of which there are several varieties in the Holy Land. The five pieces of wood are secured to one another by two metal strips which suggest an ancient assembly. Studies have suggested they were supports for the manger, which may have been made out of clay or limestone.
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