Bambino
bambino
(Italian: child)
A figure of the Infant Jesus, usually of wax, represented as in the manger or crib at Bethlehem, and exposed in Catholic churches from Christmas to Epiphany. It owes its origin to the devotion of Saint Francis of Assisi in the early 13th century . Il Santo or Santissimo Bambino is the name given to a jeweled, wooden figure of the Infant Saviour in the Franciscan church of Ara Creli, Rome. According to legend it was brought from the Holy Land about 1647 . It is carried in procession on Christmas Day as well as on the Epiphany, and is reputed to possess miraculous powers. Of the various other celebrated bambini the most notable are in the Trappist monasteries at Kensington, London , Staplehill in Dorset, and Mount Saint Bernard in Leicestershire, England .
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Bambino
the name of the swaddled figure of the infant Savior, which, surrounded by a halo, and watched over by angels, occasionally forms the subject of altar- pieces in Roman Catholic churches. The Santissimo Bambino in the church of the Ara Caeli at Rome is held in great veneration for its supposed miraculous power of curing the sick. It is carved in wood, painted, and richly decorated with jewels and precious stones. The carving is attributed to a Franciscan pilgrim, out of a tree that grew on Mount Olivet, and the painting to the evangelist Luke. The festival of the Bambino, which occurs at the Epiphany, is attended by great numbers of country people, and the Bambino is said to draw more in the shape of fees than the most successful medical practitioner in Rome. Chambers’s Encyclopaedia, s.v.