(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis was scheduled to recite the Angelus for Gaudete Sunday,
the third Sunday of Advent. A tradition has arisen in Rome, where children take to
baby Jesus from their nativity scene to St. Peter’s Square to be blessed by the Pope.
This
blessing forms the backdrop for the children’s book Bambinelli Sunday: A Christmas
Blessing, by writer Amy Welborn and artist Ann Kissane Engelhart.
“Several
years ago Pope Benedict had done the Angelus blessing with the children on this great
day – Gaudete Sunday, Engelhart told Vatican Radio. “And it was a beautiful prayer,
and I had seen these wonderful images of these kids holding these figures of Jesus
– some of them tiny, some of them really quite large. It was just a really festive
atmosphere, and we thought it would be a wonderful way to try and help the tradition
spread outside of Rome.”
Bambinelli Sunday tells a story about a boy
from Naples, whose family works in a small shop that sells figures for the famous
Neapolitan presepe, or nativity scenes. In the story, he comes to Rome for the blessing.
“I
also have always been fascinate with the precepe myself, since I was a child,” Engelhart
said. “I thought it would be fun to bring these two great traditions together.”
Listen
to the full interview by Charles Collins with Ann Kissane Engelhart: