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Sister Mariette adds the figure of Mary to a presepio she is building on Dec. 19 in the chapel at Sacred Heart Academy in Hamden.

HAMDEN – Typically, Sister Mariette Moan can be found seated at the organ in the chapel of Sacred Heart Academy, playing, writing and performing liturgical music for the school.

However, after studying for five years in Italy, the Apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is now proficient in an art form indigenous to the Italians – the making of an elaborate Nativity scene called a presepio (also called a crèche in French or a manger in English).

"Here, we have Christmas trees. But in Italy, nativity scenes are everywhere," she said. "Everywhere you go, in every house, on every floor, in every room, in corners, everywhere, there’s a presepio. They’re very popular."

Sent to Italy by her community in 1998 to study philosophy, theology and liturgical music, Sister Mariette became fascinated by the presepio and began to learn how to make them. The elaborate nativity scenes originated in Italy in the 1200s when St. Francis of Assisi asked Giovanni Vellita from the village of Greccio to create a manger scene.

While most Americans think of a nativity scene as consisting of about 10 characters – Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus, the three wise men, a shepherd and a few animals – in Italy, the presepio contains large numbers of biblical characters, angels, animals and people from everyday life.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, Naples turned nativity scenes into an art form. The presepio included the nativity scene but also represented life in Naples at the time. Since then, artisans have continued to evolve the art form.

Now, nearly 15 years after returning from Italy, Sister Mariette continues to make the nativity scenes, including one that she completed on Dec. 19 after 36 hours of work. That will remain in the chapel at Sacred Heart Academy until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord on Jan. 9. Then, the presepio will be dismantled, never to be repeated.

"No two are the same," she said. "Just as we change and grow, so does the presepio the next time you make one."

"What makes them different," said Sister Mariette, "is that you use materials that are natural and handmade," such as Spanish moss, sawdust, wood, straw, chicken wire and a fabric called rock paper, a heavier canvas-like fabric that is painted with five to six pigments and can be shaped to form a cave or other structure.

What she’s discovered in the process of making a presepio is that it has become a vehicle for creativity, for meditation, for deepening her understanding of Scripture and for prayer. "This is something that enhances my spiritual life," she said.

"It’s one of my offerings to the Lord at Christmastime," said Sister Mariette, who estimates that she’s made about 16 presepio and that they have ranged in size from 4-by-4 feet to 8-by-8 feet.

"I like the challenge of it," she explained. "It doesn’t fall into place that easily; it’s never perfect, and it doesn’t stay the same.

"It’s also a great activity for families to do together," she added. "When I was a child, I never liked the typical decorations. But two things I always loved was decorating the Christmas tree and setting up the crèche.

"This is something the families can do together and it’s something in which everyone can take pride," said Sister Mariette. She said that she has taught the art of making a presepio in parishes where she’s been assigned.

"God is using you and me to help someone to understand how much he loves them, and to inspire them to come to that understanding," she said. "What better way to have that awareness than to create the scene through which Christ came into the world?"

Sister Mariette is the alumnae director for Sacred Heart Academy, where she also teaches and coordinates music and liturgies. She also teaches and coordinates the liturgical music at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven.