Sanctuary of Greccio

This is the place where St. Francis created the first crib of the Christian tradition. The Sanctuary stands in an exceptional position, clinging to the rock and with a unique view of the Rieti plain, nearby Greccio and the Terminillo massif. It can be visited every day and is open from 09.00 to 18.00. Whether you are a believer or not, it is highly suggestive to visit this place, especially during the Christmas period.

The monastery of Greccio - a place that would hardly have found a place in the memory of the people, if there were not the story of Francis and the crib. Greccio is one of those hermitages in the Rieti Valley that Francis loved so much. Francis visited the monastery for the first time in 1217. To bring people closer to the birth story of Jesus, he celebrated here in 1223 in a real stable in a rocky grotto with ox and donkey and a straw-filled crib the birth of Christ. Soon after his death, a small church was added and consecrated. In 1982, the new large church was built at the monastery.

Above the village of Greccio, in the wooded hills of the Rieti Valley (about halfway between Assisi and Rome), on Christmas Eve 1223, Saint Francis combined Christmas mass with a nativity scene. There is a special feature in some depictions of this Christmas event: the baby Jesus is not lying in the manger or in his mother's lap, but is being held by Francis.
Even if Francis is often referred to as the founder of the European nativity scene tradition, there have also been nativity scenes before. But what was important for him was the living representation of that event – actually incomprehensible to the intellect – that the great, infinite God became man. San Francesco connects the divine childhood of Jesus with the celebration of the Eucharist, in which the living God gives himself to us again - this time in the form of bread and wine.
"We have come to worship HIM" - that was the motto of the XX. World Youth Day celebrated in Cologne in August 2005. Every Christmas picture, every nativity scene invites the viewer to follow this motto and to do the same as the Three Kings (the first pilgrims to Christ), Francis of Assisi and all the saints.