Young—Officium Pastorum. 
337 
to the ceremonial use of the relics we know, directly, nothing 
more. We may infer that the Crib of Sanctaj Maria ad 
Prsesepe was imitated in other Roman churches. We know, 
indeed, that Pope Gregory IV (827'—844) placed an avowedly 
similar Prcesepe in Santa Maria trans Tiberim. * 1 Except for 
this one example, however, the actual documents dealing with 
the first ten centuries are silent. Whether or not the Cribs of 
Sancta Maria ad Prsesepe and Sancta Maria trans Tiberim 
held figures of the holy family we can by no means decide. 
That the chapel in each of these cases was supplied with such 
figures there can be no doubt; 2 but that the ancient Cribs them¬ 
selves to any considerable extent resembled the elaborate Italian 
contrivances of the later Middle Ages we have not a single 
indication. 3 
This last important reference my friend H. W. L. Dana pointed out 
to me from E, Male, L’ Art Religieux du xiii e siecle en France, Paris, 
1910, p. 222. For representations of the Puer lying upon the altar in 
art of the thirteenth century and later, see Male, op. cit., p. 222, 
and E. Male, U Art religieux de la Fin du Moyen Age en France , 
Paris, 1908, p. 4. For representations of the Nativity in art in gen¬ 
eral, see F. Noack, Die Geburt Christi in der bildenden Kunst bis zur 
Renaissance, Darmstadt, 1894; F. A. von Lehner, Die Marienverehrung 
in den ersten Jahrhunderten, Stuttgart, 1886, Plates VI and VII; 
Rohault de Fleury, La Sainte Vierge, Vol. I, Paris, 1878, pp. 109-136; 
J. Ficker, Die altchristlichen Bildwerke im Christlichen Museum 
des Laterans, Leipzig, 1890, pp. 137-139, 156, 158. 
1 In ea [i. e. Sancta Maria trans Tiberim] sanctum fecit praesepium, 
ad similitudinem Praesepii sanctae Dei genetricis quae appellatur 
Maioris; quod videlicet lamminis aureis et argenteis adornavit. See* 
Liber Pontificalis, ed. L. Duchesne, Vol. II, Paris, 1892, p. 78. Since 
the word prcesepe was used in connection with Sancta Maria ad 
Prsesepe in referring to the chapel as well as to the crib itself, we can¬ 
not be sure that the simAlitudo of Gregory IV was not, specifically, a 
chapel rather than a structural Prcesepe. See Usener, pp. 280-281. 
2 See Usener, p. 291. 
3 Concerning the preservation of the relics of Sancta Maria ad Prsesepe 
in modern times see Vigouroux, col. 1107-1108, and Bianchini, pp. 12- 
14. A fifteenth century inventary in the archives of Santa Maria Mag- 
giore contains the following description: 
Quinque asseres seu tabulae oblongae ad mensuram unius brachii, 
et plus, structae ad mensuram quatuor digitorum, quae sunt de 
cunabulis D. N. Jesu Christi, positae in quadam capsula oblonga et 
stricta cooperta argento cum historia Beatae Virginis ex figuris 
deauratis, et ab alio latere quae dicunt: Anno Domini M. CCLXXXIX 
D. Jacobus de Columna Cardinalis fecit fieri hoc opus, et arma 
ejusdem sine pileo. Rodie vero in alijs cunabulis sunt inclusae ex 
argento deaurato, annis praeteritis a Catherina Hispaniarum Regina 
dono datis. (X. Barbier de Montault, Inventaire de la Basilique de 
Samte Marie Majeure a Rome, Arras, 1873, p. 23. Reprint from 
Revue de V Art Chretien, Vol. XVI). 
