Young—Officium Past or um. 
335 
As early as the third century, according to Origen (c. 185—c. 
254), this veneration was well established, and a specific crib 
was the center of pious devotion. 1 Over this spot the empress 
Helena erected a basilica, 2 visited during the fourth century 
and after by numerous pilgrims, to whose spiritual edification 
through the sight of the holy Prcesepe, St. Jerome expressly 
refers. 3 Rich decorations were bestowed upon the grotto, and 
the crib itself was adorned with gold and silver. 4 It has, in¬ 
deed, been asserted that not only ornaments, but also figures 
of the holy family had been placed in the Prcesepe at Bethle¬ 
hem as early as the year 400; but, this assertion can hardly be 
proved. 5 
Whatever may have been the reaches of the cult of the 
Prcesepe during the first Christian centuries in the East, 6 * 8 the 
widest development of this form of devotion occurred during 
later centuries in the West. In 354, at Rome, Pope Liber ins 
first established the Nativity as a special feast to be celebrated 
on December 25, distinct from the feast- of Epiphany, of which 
it had previously been a part on January 6. As a church dedi- 
1 See Origen, Contra Celsum, Lib. i, § 51, Migne, Patrologia Graeca, 
Vol. XI, col. 756. 
2 See Usener, pp. 283-284. 
3 Ibid. 
4 See Wetzer and Welte, Kirchenlexilcon, Vol. VII, col. 1195-1196; 
TJsener, pp, 284-285- 
6 Usener (p. 287) bases his assertion upon the following passage 
from the Sermo in Nativitatem Christi written about the year 400 
by Sanctus Gregorius Thaumaturgus: 
Ne vero sermonem protrahamns, summam ejus et quasi capitum 
texentes indiculum, postulabimus quomodo Verbum, patiendi incapax, 
factum sit corpus visnmque fuerit, idem ob snam divinam naturam 
remanendo? Verum quid dicam quidve eloquar? Aspicio enim fa- 
brum et prsesepium, puerum, virginemque genitricem omnibus desti- 
tutam indigentiaque oppressam . . . Quid dicam quidve eloquar? 
Puerum pannis obvolutum et positum in praesepio video; Maria, virgo 
simul et mater, stat famulans cum Josepho. 
Usener comments positively, “der Verfasser predigt vor einer 
biihnenartig aufgebauten Krippe mit den Personen der heiligen 
Nacht.” In the Latin passage I see no proof of anything beyond 
rhetorical vividness. Cf. Hager, pp. 7-8. 
8 Concerning the observances associated with the Crib at Bethlehem 
see T. Hase and C. Iken, Thesaurus Novus Theologico-philologicus , 
Lyons, 1732, Vol. II, pp. 118-122; Benedicti Papae XIV de Festis 
Domini Nostri Jesu Christi et Beatae Mariae Virginis libri duo 
< Migne, Theologiae Cursus Completus , Paris, 1842), col. 514-515; 
Bianchini, pp. 5-12; Vigouroux, col. 1108; Moroni, Vol. LV, pp. 174-176. 
