File:Out-of-Doors in the Holyland (1908) (14780274862).jpg

Identifier: outofdoorsinholy00regi (find matches)
Title: Out-of-Doors in the Holyland
Year: 1908 (1900s)
Authors: Regis Canevin
Subjects:
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Contributing Library: Gumberg Library, Duquesne University
Digitizing Sponsor: Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation

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n beams andrafters of the roof, the large, empty space, was one ofextreme simplicity. When we came into the choir and apse we foundourselves in the midst of complexity. The owner-ship of the different altars with their gilt ornaments,of the swinging lamps, of the separate doorways ofthe Greeks and the Armenians and the Latins, wasbewildering. Dark, winding steps, slippery with thedrippings from many candles, led us down into theGrotto of the Nativity. It was a cavern perhapsforty feet long and ten feet wide, lit by thirty pen-dent lamps (Greek, Armenian and Latin): marblefloor and walls hung with draperies; a silver star inthe pavement before the altar to mark the spot whereChrist was born; a marble manger in the corner tomark the cradle in which Christ was laid; a never-ceasing stream of poor pilgrims, who come kneeling,and kissing the star and the stones and the altar forChrists sake. We paused for a while, after we had come up, toask ourselves whether what we had seen was in any 90
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The ALii.v^.-^*iace, Bethlehei BETHLEHEM AND HEBRON way credible. Yes, credible, but not convincing.No doubt the ancient Khan of Bethlehem must havebeen somewhere near this spot, in the vicinity of themarket-place of the town. No doubt it was the cus-tom, when there were natural hollows or artificialgrottos in the rock near such an inn, to use them asshelters and stalls for the cattle. It is quite possible,it is even probable, that this may have been one ofthe shallow caverns used for such a purpose. If so,there is no reason to deny that this may be the placeof the wondrous birth, where, as the old French Noelhas it: **Dieu parmy les pastoreauXjSous la creche des toreaux,Dans les champs a voulu naistre;Et non parmy les arraysDes grands princes et. des roys,—Lui des plus grands roys le maistre.** But to the eye, at least, there is no reminder of thescene of the Nativity in this close and stifling chapel,hung with costly silks and embroideries, gUtteringwith rich lamps, filled with th

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