A crowd of enthusiastic visitors, including Bishop Earl Fernandes, came to the Museum of Catholic Art & History on Tuesday night, Dec. 6 to view the “Mangers of the Museum” exhibit and meet St. Nicholas on his feast day.
The Nativities exhibit opened Friday, Nov. 25 at the museum, 257 E. Broad St., and continues through the first week of January when Epiphany is celebrated.
Approximately 500 Nativity scenes representing different cultures throughout the world are on display at the museum, which occupies a portion of the building it shares with The Catholic Foundation and was home to the first restaurant in the Wendy’s fast-food chain founded by Dave Thomas.
The sets range from displays that might be found in a home to unique settings from Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and Alaska.
“People who come here not only have a chance to see different Nativity sets but can learn about the history of how they came to be,” said Shawn Kenney, the museum’s executive director.
He explained the history of Nativities, starting in 1223 when St. Francis of Assisi received permission to create a Nativity consisting of living people and including pieces such as a stable and manger to reenact the Nativity of the Lord in Bethlehem.
“This caught on very quickly,” Kenney said, “and within a year, other churches began displaying their own Nativity scenes. This eventually was adopted by many different Christian denominations throughout the world as can be seen today.”
The featured display at the museum is a Fontanini set consisting of 3,900 pieces from the collection of the late Father Carmen Arcuri, a priest in the Diocese of Columbus who died in 2017.
Father Arcuri acquired pieces through the years when the Fontanini family introduced new offerings.
“Some of these are, in fact, signed by members of the Fontanini family themselves,” Kenney said.
After Father Arcuri retired, he donated the entire set to the former Jubilee Museum, which was located in the old Columbus Holy Family School in the Franklinton area until it was closed in 2020 and reopened in 2021 in its current home as the Museum of Catholic Art & History.
“It was so large we didn’t have the space to exhibit it there,” Kenney said, referring to the former school. “Since we’ve moved to our new location at The Catholic Foundation, we had more room and decided this year to make it the centerpiece of our Nativity display.”
The St. Nicholas feast day event on Dec. 6 featured live music with Kathleen Tully of Columbus St. Patrick Church playing harp, refreshments, stories and a surprise visit from Bishop Fernandes.
St. Nicholas helper Grace Warren (left) watches as St. Nicholas (Bill White) poses with Frederick Benge, 4, while his mom, Hillary, who is holding son Johnny, takes a photo. The Benges are members of Columbus St. Patrick Church. CT photo by Ken Snow
Children could have their photos taken with St. Nicholas (Bill White dressed as the saint). They also received candy canes and an explanation of their meaning from volunteer Cathy Arp, a member of St. Patrick Church.
“A candy maker began with a stick of pure white, hard candy, which symbolizes the virgin birth and sinless nature of Jesus,” she told them. “The hardness is the solid rock and the firmness of the promises of God.
“He then formed the candy into a ‘J’ for Jesus, our Savior and Good Shepherd. He stained it with three small, red stripes representing the scourging Jesus received prior to his crucifixion for our healing. He added one large red stripe to represent the shedding of His blood on the cross for our salvation.”
She added that the cane represents a shepherd’s crook as well as a crosier carried by a bishop, who is the shepherd of his flock, or diocese.
Among the other prominent items in the exhibit are paintings of St. Nicholas kneeling in prayer at the Lancaster Basilica of St. Mary of the Assumption by Dr. Chris Ryckman, a Lancaster artist whose work was featured in The Catholic Times at Christmas 2018.
The Museum of Catholic Art & History is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, visit catholicmuseum.org, call (614) 618-4030 or send an email to info@catholicmuseum.org.
