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• 1 media/texture-1318241_1920.jpg media/feature-image-christs-birth.png 2020-10-21T13:24:11-07:00 Birth of Christ 12 The infant Jesus is the centerpiece of the crèche and the essence of Christmas. image_header 2020-12-11T09:39:48-08:00
  

  Christvs Recens Natvs
  F.D. Pillot
  Circa 1820
  Paris, France
  Hand-colored holy card
  Auguste Martin Collection
  ML.028-24

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  Nativity miniature from Book of Hours, use of Rome
  Printed by Pierre Viduoue
  1523
  France
  Hand-colored engraving
  Marian Library Rare Books Collection
  
  Miniatures in the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary illustrate events in Mary’s life surrounding the infancy of Christ. The Nativity is usually depicted with the prayers for Prime, the first canonical hour of daylight (around 6 a.m.). This and other books of hours in the Marian Library's collection may be viewed in the online exhibit, Mary in Miniature: Books of Hours in the Marian Library Collection. 

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  Holy Family
  Late 20th century
  Printed postcard
  Marian Postcard Collection
  

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  Nativity 
  Elizabeth Ambang (formerly Sister Mary Lisette, S.N.D.)
  Circa 1990
  Papua New Guinea
  Print
  Marian Library Art & Artifacts Collection
  ML.0053.22
   

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  The Family
  Marjorie Bereza
  United Kingdom
  Printed card
  Auguste Martin Collection

   

  Text from verso: “The wisdom of all the ages, the simplicity of humble folk, the true Christmas message — all are implicit in this beautiful and unusual study of an African mother and child watched over by the father.”
  
  The card also notes that the original artwork was specially designed for, and sold to help, the South African Institute of Race Relations in Johannesburg, South Africa.
  

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  Madonna and Child
  Ann Adams 
  1991
  United States
  Greeting card
  Mouth and Foot Artist Christmas Cards

  In 1950 at the age of 23, two years after having her first child, Adams (1926-1992) was diagnosed with polio. Adams had been a student at an art school in Jacksonville, Florida, when she was diagnosed, and during her free time outside the iron lung in a polio ward in Augusta, Georgia, she found a way to return to her artistic passion. As her friend and fellow artist Dan Paulos wrote in a testimony about her, “She knew God’s plan would allow her to sit-up in a wheelchair and learn how to draw again, this time, not with her hands, but with a pencil held between her teeth.” Ann’s friends had greeting cards made with her drawings and sold millions over the years, giving her financial independence. One of Adams’ favorite subjects to draw was the Madonna. This image of Mary and Jesus at the manger is one of several of her works in the collection Mouth and Foot Artist Christmas Cards, which contains cards from several artists.

  For more information about the work of Ann Adams, see “Lift Up Your Heart: Ann Adams and the Art of Living,” a piece by Dan Paulos in Catholic Digest (originally published in its full form in Our Sunday Visitor).