One of the very human lessons of Christmas is about the importance of home. In the Incarnation, God made his home among us. He made thus an indirect but clear statement about the right to home and country, citizenship and social security. But if there is no place like home, it is equally true that home is first and foremost where they take you in. The latter was Christ's first and own experience. He was taken in by his mother and all other generous or not so generous people who gave and still give him shelter in their homes or in their hearts.

Speaking about the Christ child's second home, we seem to know that it was a manger (Lk 2,16). But where stood the manger? Was it in a cave, a barn or some run- down motel of antiquity? Early Christmas tradition was influenced by Roman mythology. It placed the Christ child in a shelter or refuge not unlike that of Romulus and Remus. In Roman art it is called tugurium, meaning a roof, level or inclined, supported by four posts and open on all sides to wind, rain and sun. In the course of history, the architecture of Christ's first dwelling has changed many times as the following sampling shows. But many of them have retained the original concept of a simple roof over four posts.

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This page, maintained by The Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute, was last modified May 19, 2009 by Michael P. Duricy. Please send any comments to Johann.Roten@udayton.edu.