This plaster Baby Jesus figurine belongs to Carolyn Vernatonis of Pottsville. It was passed down from her grandmother, and was blessed at the Blessing of the Bambinelli Sunday. PHOTOS BY JACQUELINE DORMER
Originally published in the Pottsville Republican-Herald on December 13, 2021.
POTTSVILLE - In the manger scene outside Saint Patrick's Church, protected against vandals and the elements by a plexiglass barrier, the Baby Jesus was conspicuously absent. Mary, Joseph, the animals and the wise men were there, but Jesus was missing from his troth crib and bed of hay. This, the third Sunday of Advent, was the Blessing of the Bambinelli. In this Italian Catholic tradition, the faithful take the Baby Jesus figurines from their home nativities and bring them to the church to be blessed.
"It is a great tradition, I love it," said Father Barnabas Shayo, who blessed the miniature incarnations with holy water. "And it does animate peoples' faith. Not only can they hear, but they can see. The images represent the reality that we believe in. We can easily relate."
Father Barnabas Shayo blesses the babies.
Fran Blum of Pottsville brought her mother's Baby Jesus to be blessed.
"I put it up every year with cotton and lights," she said. "I read in the church bulletin and I thought, 'I'll bring my baby Jesus.' It's the reason for the season."
Carolyn Vernatonis of Pottsville brought two Baby Jesuses. One, made of plaster, belonged to her grandmother. The other, made of wood, belonged to her parents.
"They're family heirlooms," she said. "It's a nice remembrance of my parents, my grandparents. It keeps the family alive."
The plaster Christ's colors had long since faded. The wooden Christ had a deep gash in its torso. She keeps it safe in a gold and silver case, given to her by her stepdaughter.
"It's a reminder that Christmas is coming and a reminder of the family that is gone," she said.
"You are preparing for Christmas coming," Shayo said, "and it is the recognition that God comes to be among us. He came as a human person. He was born like any other child. Every time they look, it brings to mind that God in his divinity humbled himself to become a man."
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