The Christmas crib, or nativity scene, goes back to Saint Francis of Assisi, who in 1223 at Greccio set up a manger with an ox and an ass and had Mass celebrated before it so that the people could see with their own eyes the poverty of the Child of Bethlehem. Pope Francis's apostolic letter Admirabile signum (2019) calls the crib a living Gospel and asks that the custom never be lost in homes, schools, workplaces and public squares. The Church's Directory on Popular Piety commends the family crib in the same terms and the Book of Blessings gives an order for blessing it at home. This guide is for setting one up so that it is prayed at, not only looked at.

What you need

• A set of figures: Mary, Joseph, the Child, shepherds and sheep, the ox and the ass, an angel, and the three Magi with their camels
• A stable or cave and a manger, bought or made
• A Bible, for Saint Luke's account of the birth at the blessing
• Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers (USCCB) or the Book of Blessings, for the blessing text

When to pray it

Set up the crib during Advent, bless it on Christmas Eve or when it is set up, place the Child at Christmas, add the Magi at Epiphany, and keep it through the Christmas season.

Steps

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   Step 1: Understand why the crib

   Saint Francis wanted people to see the hardship of the Child's birth, and the crib has taught the Incarnation to the eyes ever since. Pope Francis draws out its lessons in Admirabile signum: the night sky and the poor landscape say that God comes into our real world; the ruined stable says that he comes to rebuild what sin has broken; the shepherds say that the poor are the first invited; the ox and the ass, from Isaiah's 'the ox knows its owner', say that all creation recognises him; and Mary and Joseph say that God entrusts himself to a family. Setting up a crib is a way of preaching the Gospel in your own house.

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   Step 2: Choose where to place it

   Put the crib where the household lives and prays, a mantel, a side table, the base of the Christmas tree, or a low table where children can reach it. It should be visible from where you sit in the evening, so that it can be the place of a short prayer, and safe from candles and pets. If the house has a prayer corner with a crucifix and an image of Our Lady, the crib belongs there through the season. A nativity scene in the window or the front garden, where neighbours see it, is an old and good custom too.

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   Step 3: Set the figures in order

   Build the scene from the back: the stable or cave, the landscape and the starry sky, then the animals inside, then Mary and Joseph beside the empty manger, and the shepherds and sheep on the hillside a little way off, as if still on their way. The angel goes above the stable or over the shepherds. Set the three Magi far away at the edge of the room, and move them a little closer each day of the Christmas season; children love this. A star can be added on Christmas Eve. Leave the manger empty.

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   Step 4: Keep the manger empty until Christmas

   The one rule the custom has is that the Child is not placed in the manger until Christmas. Through Advent the empty manger is itself the prayer: the whole scene is waiting, as the Church is waiting. Keep the figure of the Child wrapped and put away, and if there are children in the house let them know he is coming and when. This small discipline teaches Advent better than any explanation, because the children will ask every day whether it is time yet.

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   Step 5: Bless the crib

   The Book of Blessings gives an Order for the Blessing of a Christmas Manger or Nativity Scene, with a form for the home led by a parent or another member of the family; it may be used on Christmas Eve or, if the scene is set up earlier, when it is completed. All gather before the crib and make the Sign of the Cross; one member reads Saint Luke's account of the birth of Jesus, from the census in Bethlehem to the laying of the Child in the manger; the leader says the prayer of blessing, asking God to bless the scene and all who look on it; and all end with the Our Father▾ and a Glory Be▾. The text is in the USCCB's Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers.

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   Step 6: Place the Child on Christmas Eve

   On Christmas Eve, after nightfall, or on returning from the Vigil Mass or the Mass during the Night, gather the household at the crib and let the youngest, or the eldest, place the Child in the manger while the others sing a carol, 'Silent Night' or 'O Come, All Ye Faithful', or say the Glory Be▾. If you have not yet blessed the crib, bless it now. From this evening the empty manger is full, and the crib is the place to pray the Our Father▾ together each evening of the Christmas season.

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   Step 7: Add the Magi at Epiphany

   On the Epiphany, celebrated in the United States on the Sunday between 2 and 8 January, the Magi arrive: move them, with their camels and gifts, into the stable before the Child, and read the account from Saint Matthew's Gospel of the wise men, the star and the three gifts. Many families mark the day with the traditional chalk blessing of the front door with the year and the initials C+M+B. The crib then stays until the Baptism of the Lord, the Sunday after Epiphany, which ends the Christmas season; if you keep the older custom, until the Presentation of the Lord on 2 February. Pack the figures away with care; the same crib, set up year after year, becomes part of a family's memory of the faith.

Tips

• Let the children build it. Pope Francis notes that the crib is where children first learn the Gospel, and a scene they have arranged is one they will pray at.
• A home-made stable from a box and moss is entirely in the spirit of Greccio; expensive figures are not the point, poverty is.
• Keep the Child hidden, wrapped in a cloth in a drawer, until Christmas Eve, and let the youngest place him.
• The Christmas season ends with the Baptism of the Lord; an older custom keeps the crib until the Presentation on 2 February, as Saint Peter's Square does.