In light of today being Candlemas, I’ll share a few photos of the crèche displayed at the Chapel of the White Penitents in Montpellier during our recent visit. Candlemas is the fortieth day of Christmastide and would traditionally be the final day for such a display.
Over the years, Kathryn and I have seen a number of over-the-top crèches in France, but this one takes the cake for me. Compared to the relatively modest Nativity displays that I’m used to seeing in the United States, ones like this can be overwhelming. Mentally, I have to step back and think of them not as Nativity scenes, but rather as scenes of Nativity scenes. Even so, there are obvious incongruities. A friend to whom I sent a few of these photos commented on the “elephants, eighteenth century Dutchmen, and Roman soldiers.” If you’re close enough to make out the fine detail, there is an inhabitant reading a newspaper written in a language that appears to be Occitan. I’m not sure it’s all supposed to make sense.
This same chapel is used regularly by canons of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest to celebrate Holy Mass and for other devotions. Kathryn and I attended their monthly Requiem Mass in January, as we sometimes do when we’re in Montpellier. I expected the presence of the crèche to be at least a mild distraction. However, just before Mass, someone flipped a switch, all the moving parts ground to a halt, and the chapel fell silent. The crèche remained illuminated, but we hardly knew it was there.
In the secular United States, the great Christian feast of Candlemas has long been suppressed by the solemnity of Groundhog Day, so don’t expect to read much about the former today.
