Enzo Fortunato

A JOY NEVER FELT Francis and the Invention of the Nativity

San Francesco e l'invenzione del presepe

1st edition October 2022
Series DIMENSIONI DELLO SPIRITO
Size 14 x 21 cm

Also available in eBook format

Number of pages 160
CDU 22H 472
ISBN/EAN 9788892229877

Enzo Fortunato
A JOY NEVER FELT
Francis and the Invention of the Nativity
Foreword by Domenico Pompili

Legend has it that Saint Francis of Assisi invented the Nativity play back in 1223. Having gone to Bethlehem the previous year, Francis was enchanted by the sacred representations set up for Christmas. On his return he asked Pope Honorius III to be able to propose them at home too. In those days the performance of sacred dramas was forbidden by the Church; the Pope, however, allowed him to celebrate mass in a natural cave, the hermitage of Greccio, and so, on December 24, 1223, the birth of the baby Jesus was staged. There were the cave, the ox, and the donkey. None of those present took the role of Joseph and Mary, because Francis did not want the “show” of the Savior’s birth to be made. The population came in large numbers and so the saint was able to tell all the faithful, who could not read, the story of the birth of Jesus. In these pages, Father Fortunato traces the history of the Nativity play from the Bethlehem grotto to the first living Nativity play in Greccio, up to the Upper Basilica of Assisi and in Scala, where Saint Alphonsus Liguori, among shepherds, caves, and flocks, found inspiration for the composition of the most famous Christmas carol in Italy, Tu scendi dalle stelle. Fr.

Enzo Fortunato is Friar Minore Conventuale, journalist, and writer. From 1997 to 2021 he has been the director of the Press Room of the Sacred Convent of Assisi and of the San Francesco Magazine. He has been professor at the Pontifical Antonianum University and the Theological Institute of Assisi. He collaborated with the Osservatore Romano and regularly writes for the daily newspapers Avvenire, Corriere della Sera, and La Repubblica. For Edizioni San Paolo he has written Francesco e il Sultano. 800 anni da un incredibile incontro (2019) with Piero Damosso; Il Natale di Francesco (2019); Il Natale di Maria (2020); E se tornasse davvero Gesù? (2021).

SELLING POINTS
• Almost 800 years after the first living Nativity play, a book that traces the history of one of the symbols of Christmas.
• A journey of the spirit, to rediscover the profound value of the celebration of Christmas.
• The author (Friar Minore Conventuale) is the perfect guide to the history of the Nativity play.