“Peace to you.” The writing that stands under the Easter nativity scene set up in the Hall of the Gemelli Polyclinic, in Rome, immediately gives a little refreshment to those who arrive here on a visit to a sick relative or waiting for a hospitalization or the results of some investigation. By drawing on the ancient traditions which, in addition to the classic that tells the birth of Jesus, also highlighted, during Lent, the mystery of his death and resurrection, the work is made up of the so -called “dioramas”, that is, reduced scale settings of different scenes. From the last dinner at the death of Jesus on the cross, until the ascent with the altar positioned in the cave of Greccio, with the frescoes that reproduce the birth of Jesus wrapped in bands but deposed in a tomb, to already glimpse the Easter mystery. And there is also a San Francesco in the main scene of the crib, that of death on the cross, with the saint of Assisi who assists in front. The crib, in fact, also wanted to remember the 800 years of the stigmata received by Francesco in the Sanctuary of La Verna.
The work, precisely in the heart of the Polyclinic, “assumes an even deeper meaning for the sick and the health workers who face challenges and evidence daily”, reads in the panels that explain the crib.
Very widespread in central and western Europe between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Easter nativity scene had then fallen into disuse. To be, however, again resumed in recent decades especially for the work of great craftsmen. In Naples, in the famous via di San Gregorio Armeno, the work of the master Aldo Vucai successful. Using a root of a 400 -year -old olive tree, a symbol of peace and faith, the craftsman has included scenes that start from the escape to Egypt up to the crucifixion on the Golgotha passing through the resurrection of Lazzaro, the meeting with the Samaritanian, the flagellation, the suicide of Judah.
The Easter crib of the Gemelli ends with a Jesus who ascends to the sky dressed in white.
“For the sick, a symbol of hope and comfort”, explained by the demanders, “for healthcare professionals an invitation to reflection on the human and spiritual dimension of their profession” and a “message of hope, solidarity and humanity for all those involved in the process of care and healing”.
