The Christmas Infant

The wonderfully colorful and joyous feast of Christmas, in which the delight of children seems uppermost in our preparations, fills the winter evenings of North America with lights, color and music.  Especially in areas where snow falls and the evenings are darkest, the brightness and festive decorations of the season are encouragements towards excitement, festivity and wonder.  Even in the early history of the Sisters of the Holy Family, spent not in snow, but in the milder, though sometimes rainy, winters of San Francisco, preparations for the season were of great interest.  For the children of the Homes and parishes there were parties to plan, gifts to prepare (since they were the poorest children the sisters served, every child in the Homes received a completely new set of clothing from the skin out, and a toy, every Christmas), pageants to invent and practice, and nativity scenes to set up.

Not only because of the children served in the Day Homes and catechetical centers of the city, but also in anticipation of sharing the Feast of the Incarnation with their religious sisters and their own families, the sisters spent long hours in preparing the chapel for midnight Mass and three Masses on Christmas morning to celebrate the birth of the most wondrous Child of all.  While it is true that the sisters spent little money on their homes, except to keep all in order and repair, the chapel always received the very best that they could afford.  Generous benefactors also gave beautiful vases and candelabra for the use of the altar, and sometimes items meant for devotional use.  Perhaps the Infant pictured in this article is one such gift.  Its origin is unknown, but it is the sort of item that might have been presented to Sister Dolores by a friend of the Community.  It is certainly from the early days of Holy Family, and, one suspects, might have been presented to the sisters when their lovely Victorian convent was ready for occupancy on November 6, 1893 at Hayes and Fillmore Streets in San Francisco.  The Community was 21 years old as it moved into the beautifully constructed building and it had a wonderful chapel upon which the sisters lavished their loving care.  It was a chapel big enough to invite guests into for Christmas, and offered all manner of possibilities for decoration.

The Infant of our picture was given pride of place at Christmas time, enthroned much as you see him in the accompanying photo, placed in front of the statue of his mother, on the right-hand side of the altar.  A tall white candle, festooned with English holly and a red ribbon, stands to his left, in a crystal candlestick given to the Community by Father Prendergast.  From his bed of hay, the Divine Child lifts his tiny hand in benediction over the sisters, their families, their guests, their clients and their benefactors -- the Sun of Justice, rising to enlighten the darkness.In one small hand he holds a little cross, emblematic of his future death and resurrection, toward which he proceeds in love.  The piece measures 15 by 14 ½ inches and is gilded with gold leaf.

Rather than presenting the whole Nativity scene with shepherds, angels and wise men, the sisters' chapel displayed the central figure of the mystery for contemplation and meditation.  For it is the Christ Child who gives meaning to the season, the feast, and the gifts of love distributed to all during this festival of light, color and joy.