334 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
Quern quaeritis in prcesepe seems to have been directly useful 
in liturgical drama only in the use once of a substantial part of 
it in the Ojficium Stellce of Epiphany. 1 2 
III. 
In our consideration of the Officium Past or um we have found 
that the action of this dramatic office centers, in a specially con¬ 
structed Prcesepe / or crib. We are bound, then, to inquire 
into the nature and history of this structure. 3 | - 
The history of the Prcesepe begins with the very grotto in 
Bethlehem traditionally venerated as the birth place of Christ, 
1 See Coussemaker, pp. 157-158. , 
2 Classical prcesepe, -is (n .); prcesepes, -is (f.); prcesepia, -ae (f). 
In mediaeval documents prcesepium (n.) is usual. Cf. Italian presepio. 
3 1 am especially indebted to G. Hager, Die Weihnachtslcrippe, 
Munich, 1902, and to H. Usener, Das Weihnachtsfest, Bonn, 1889 
(Religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen, von H. Usener, Theil I), 
pp. 279-290. Chabot’s popular pamphlet Les Creches de Noel dans 
tons les pays , Pitjhiviers, [1906], in so far as it has scholarly value, is 
merely based upon Hager’s monograph. I have consulted also Cham¬ 
bers, Vol. IT, pp. 42-43; G. Cohen, Histoire de la Mise en scene dans 
le Theatre Religieux Francais du Moyen Age, Paris, 1906, p. 23; K. A. 
H. Kellner, Heortology, London, 1908, pp. 155-156; Baumer’s article in 
Wetzer and Welte’s Kirchenlexikon, Vol. vn (1891), col. 1195-1197; P. 
Vigouroux, Dictionnaire de la Bible, Vol. II, Paris, 1899, col. 1107- 
1109; G. Moroni, Dizionario di Erudizione storico-ecclesiastica, Vol. 
xxvi, Venice 1844, p. 63, Vol. LV, ibid., 1852, pp. 173-179; F. Bianchini, 
De Sacris Imaginibus Musivi Operis a S. Xysto Papa III post Oecu- 
menicam Synodvm Ephesiam in Basilica Liberiana constructs, et de 
Dominicce Nativitatis Praesepi ac Venerabilibus Cunis Infantiae Christi 
Domini ibidem custoditis disser tat tones dues , Rome, 1727, pp. 1-14; 
P. Lafond, La Creche de la Cathedrale Sainte-Marie d ’ Oloron, in 
Reunion des Societes des Beaux-Arts des Departements, Vol. xxl (1901), 
pp. 567-572; F. Cancellieri, Notizie intorno alia novena vigilia notte e 
Festa di Natale, Rome, 1788; A. F. Gorins, Osservazioni sopra iv monu- 
menti degli antichi christiani rappresentanii il Presepio del Nato Sal¬ 
vatore, Florence, 1740; C. Liibeck, Die Tiere an der Krippet des 
Erlosers, in Zeitschrift fur ehristliche Kunst, Jahrg. xviii (1905), col. 
9-14; M. Schmid, Die Darstellung der Geburt Christi in der bildenden 
Kunst, Stuttgart, 1890, pp. 82-87; Chabot, Noel dans les pays grang¬ 
ers, Pithiviers, 1908, pp, 62-65, 77-82, 93, 103; J. de Bonnefon, Creches 
de Noel, in U Art et V Autel, Paris, 1901-1902, pp. 153-156 (Neglig¬ 
ible) ; Evelyn Martinengo Cesaresco, Puer Parvulus, in The Contem¬ 
porary Review Vol. LXXVII (1900), pp. 117-123; Dom Grenier, In¬ 
troduction a V Histoire Generate de la Province de Picardie, in Mem- 
oires de la Societe des Antiquaires de Picardie. Documents In6dits, 
Vol. Ill, Amiens, 1856, pp. 389-390. I have not seen G. Rietschel, 
Weihnachten in Kirche, Kunst und Yolksleben, Leipzig, 1902, and 
E. Niffle-Anciaux, Les repos de Jesus et les berceaux reliquaires, 
1896. 
