BELLS OF BETHLEHEM

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 36, 12 February 1938, Page 25

BELLS OF BETHLEHEM

The Church of the Nativity, from which the bells of Bethlehem \ were broadcast1 again, at Christmas, ■is remarkably crowded with memorials, even for Palestine, says the "Manchester Guardian." Not only is the reputed manger sheltered in this the oldest church in Christendom. Here is also the 'Altar of the Innocents, for I this is-the burial-place, supposedly, of I the children slain in the massacre by Herod. Furthermore, the pilgrim is shown the spot where Joseph slept when warned by an angel to fly into Egypt. Clearly the principles of industrial rationalisation, for the sake of economy in space, time, labour, and money, were discovered by the holy monks centuries ago. A narrow stairway in the choir leads to the underground Grotto (and Manger) of the Nativity. Its musty gloom is intensified by fifty-three dim lamps, which I reveal the usual tinsel, gilded ornaments, and the tapestry which serves to hide the cavern walls. The manger itself is a rough-hewn recess of rock, such as is still found in many houses of old Palestine, and in it is a marble slab from which a silver star gleams. "Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary" is the translation of the Latin' inscription.