A fragment of the relic of the manger that, according to tradition, welcomed the newborn Jesus has returned to the Holy Land. A small piece of wood which has crossed the Mediterranean, but which is above all able to travel through the centuries, until the Christmas night of two thousand years ago. The first stop is the church inside the pontifical complex of Notre Dame, with the mass celebrated by the Apostolic Delegate for Jerusalem, Mgr. Leopoldo Girelli. Obtained from the "Holy Cradle" preserved in Rome, in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, the fragment of the relic is a gift from the Pope to the Custody of the Holy Land. Br FRANCESCO PATTON, ofm Custos of the Holy Land "We are keeping the manger in which Mary laid Jesus after his birth in Bethlehem. This fragment is part of what was the wooden structure of the manger. It is important because it recalls the mystery of the Incarnation: that of the child, of the son of God who becomes man, incarnating himself on this earth, becoming a man on this earth." "The man of today - said in his homily Mgr. Girelli - "is the man of the "tangible". This relic is something tangible, which brings us back to the exact moment in history when God became a man. The material of which it is made is also emblematic because the pinnacle of the love story between God and man passes through the wood of the manger in Bethlehem and the wood of the Jerusalem cross. Christmas and Easter are both feasts of redemption." Fr JUAN SOLANA, L.C. Director Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center "The Pope's attention to the Holy Land, to the Christians of the Holy Land is very great, and I have already felt how much people have valued it." KARL-HEINZ FLECKENSTEIN Jerusalem "For us, it is truly a very important and beautiful thing to have this relic here. It is proof that Jesus became man, that the Son of God became man, that man can become the Son of God." LOUISA FLECKENSTEIN Jerusalem We got up early this morning...a relic of Bethlehem that goes back to its origins...A great emotion. For me today is Christmas. After a day dedicated to the veneration of the faithful, the Custos of the Holy Land was officially given the relic of the wooden manger. The manger was donated in the seventh century by the Patriarch of Jerusalem St. Sofronius to Pope Theodore I, who apparently had Palestinian origins. Then the procession to the church of Saint Saviour and the prayer of Vespers on the day of the feast of All the Franciscan Saints. The feast also commemorates the solemn confirmation of the Rule of St. Francis by Pope Honorius III, in 1223. Waiting for the transfer of the relic to the church of Saint Catherine, in Bethlehem, a few tens of meters from the Grotto of the Nativity. Br FRANCESCO PATTON, ofm Custos of the Holy Land "It will stay here in the Holy Land, it will be a bit of a homecoming for this relic." Read More