
“Bambino” is Italian for “baby” but at Christmas the term refers to the figure of the infant Jesus placed in family and church manger scenes. The most famous was the late-medieval doll in the Church of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli, Rome, carved by a Franciscan friar from wood from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Ceremonies attended its placing every Christmas Eve; children preached before it; and miracles were attributed to it, including one where it returned itself home after a kidnapping. In 1994 thieves broke into the church and made off with the image which had been covered with valuable objects; the Franciscans discouraged any attempt to pay ransom for its return. Instead a modern copy (also made from wood from the Garden of Gethsemane) replaced the original, paid for in part by outraged convicts, ashamed that fellow criminals might have been responsible for the theft. The new image is also richly adorned, decorated with gold and jewels.