MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE AMBROSIANA

Christmas wishes from the Prefect of the Ambrosiana, Monsignor Marco Maria Navoni

Christmas 2023

This beautiful miniature which adorns the Christmas mass in the Missale Parisiense (Inc. 2026) of 1497 from the collections of the Ambrosiana Library shows the typical nativity scene, with its various characters: Baby Jesus lying on the hem of the cloak of the Virgin Mary his Mother, Saint Joseph in a contemplative attitude, the donkey and the ox, the shepherds who left their flocks watched over by the faithful guard dog to come to adore the newborn Messiah, the angels above the hut in Bethlehem. Everything is framed in a kind of elegant Gothic window, at the center of which sits a character with a hat on his head who looks down on the scene, but seems to remain essentially extraneous to it.

The wish I address to those who read these words and enjoy this shining miniature is instead to humbly descend from their pedestal and enter, so to speak, the Nativity scene, as an active character, sharing in that great gift that the Christmas of Christ brings us every year and always: peace and serenity of the heart, with the awareness that in the Child born in Bethlehem we have proof of God’s love and providence towards all humanity.