From Italy to Lyndhurst: Presepio nativity scene on display at parish
If you want to go over the top for Christmas, you light your house with strands of lights like Luna Park. If you wanted to go over the top for Christmas in 1700’s Naples, you built a presepio.
What is a presepio?
The word “presepio” comes from the Latin word for “manger.” Noble Neapolitan families would have elaborate Nativity scenes built in their homes to impress their family and friends who would come to visit during the holiday season. No expense was spared to recreate what they imagined the City of Bethlehem to have looked like on Christmas Eve.
A miniature city of papier-mâché Roman ruins and working fountains would be the backdrop for hundreds of figures that would be commissioned from artisans who specialized in the craft. They made beautiful figurines from wood, terracotta, and precious silks and fabrics, which would become stunning works of art when finished.
Not only did these scenes portray the Holy Family, shepherds, angels, and wise men, but every trade imaginable would also overwhelm this nativity tableau – cheesemakers, laundresses, fishmongers, musicians, lawyers, coopers, peddlers, gamblers, dancers, horse truck drivers, blacksmiths, lemonade vendors, pastry chefs, tavern keepers, knife sharpeners, chestnut roasters, bakers, pork butchers, calzone fryers and pizza makers.
The artists did not portray the tradesmen or the scenes of Bethlehem at the time of Jesus. Instead, they invented a fantastical Bethlehem that looked identical to the Rococo Naples where they lived. The message was to find Jesus where He is hidden in your place and time.
This craft of presepio making is very much alive and more popular than ever in Naples. An entire street named Via San Gregorio Armeno hosts about 50 shops that produce presepio pieces. It’s an art passed through generations in the same family, and it is virtually impossible to walk down its street in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Italian families carry a tradition to buy a new piece for their presepio every year, so their at-home Neapolitan nativity scene is continually growing.
In the weeks following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the region of Campania, the state in Italy where Naples is located, wanted to do something to commemorate the significant loss that would be felt that first Christmas holiday and to send to America as a token of love, solidarity, and affection from the heart of Naples.
Presepio makers were asked if they would each donate a piece that could be assembled and shipped to New York for Christmas. The final product was called the Presepio della Pace, the nativity of peace.
The Presepio della Pace on display at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Lyndhurst. (Photo courtesy of Father Ernest G. Rush) 
The Presepio della Pace on display at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Lyndhurst. (Photo courtesy of Father Ernest G. Rush) 
The Presepio della Pace on display at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Lyndhurst. (Photo courtesy of Father Ernest G. Rush) 
The Presepio della Pace on display at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Lyndhurst. (Photo courtesy of Father Ernest G. Rush) 
The Presepio della Pace on display at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Lyndhurst. (Photo courtesy of Father Ernest G. Rush)
Italian American organizations that had roots in the Naples area of Italy were asked to be the guardians of this extraordinary nativity scene. Federazione Campania is the organization they chose.
One of the clubs that belongs to Federazione Campania is the Sandumanghese del Cilento Society. They are a local organization of immigrants and descendants from San Mango Cilento, Italy. The group uses Our Lady of Mount Carmel Hall once a month for their meetings.
Feeling a special closeness to our parish and living in the surrounding towns, the club requested, during this 20th anniversary year of the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, that this extraordinary Nativity scene of peace be hosted on our church grounds for Christmas.
I was extremely honored and excited to have the Pesepio Della pace hosted and placed in our parish this year. There is a special connection and relationship between the Federation and the Sandumanghese del Cilento society. Members host meetings here at the church, and there is also the monthly devotion to Madonna Del Sacro Monte – Novi Velia Regina Del Cilento. I am also connected with the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George.
The presepio has special meaning for me personally, as I lost five very dear and close friends on Sept. 11, 2001, all of whom I worked with before I was ordained to the Sacred Priesthood of Jesus Christ. They were first responders (police, firefighters, and Emergency Medical Services personnel) that I worked with daily. It was a significant loss never forgotten but always remembered.
As we celebrate the closing Mass with Most Rev. John Flesey, retired auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, I wish to remind everybody that the Pesepio will remain on display until February.
Father Ernest G. Rush is the pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Lyndhurst. He provided the images of the Presepio della Pace on display at the parish.
