Holy Cradle

Likewise the Sibyls, for instance the Cumæan, the Egyptian and the Delphic, did these not foreshadow, amid the darkness of the Gentiles, the Holy Cradle, the Rods, the Reed, the Crown of Thorns and the Cross itself?

In some of the larger churches solemn vespers are held Christmas afternoon, when the Holy Cradle is carried around among the audience.

‘Wrought in the troublous times of ItalyBy Sandro Botticelli,’ when for fearOf that last judgment, and last day drawn nearTo end all labour and all revelry,He worked and prayed in silence; this is sheThat by the holy cradle sees the bier,And in spice gifts the hyssop on the spear,And out of Bethlehem, Gethsemane.

So soon as he had leaped from his mother's heavenly womb, he lay not long waiting in his holy cradle, but he sprang up and sought the oxen of Apollo.