BETHLEHEM (Heb. Beth-lehem = "house of bread"; Gk. more commonly Βαβλέη and Βηβλέη; Vulg. Bethlehem; Arab. Bajt-lahm = "house of meat"). - A city of the tribe of Judah, in which Jesus Christ was born. It is situated 8 km. south of Jerusalem, on two hills at 777 m. above the level of the Mediterranean and 1267 above the Dead Sea.
I. HISTORY
In the letters of el-Amarna (290, 16, ed. J. A. Knudtson) a city in the surroundings of Urusalim (Jerusalem) is mentioned by the name of Bit-ilu-NIN-IB, and since in a list of Babylonian divinities NIN-IB is a synonym of Laham(u), the hypothesis has been put forward (cf. O. Schroeder, Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, 18 [1915], col. 294 ff.), accepted by many, which derives the name of B. from Bit-ilu-laham = house of the god Laham.
Of B. we know only what the sacred texts tell us. It can, however, be affirmed that the ancient city stood on the summit of the north-western hill, and the shift toward the south-east is explained by the attraction exerted by the sanctuary of the Nativity. B. is surnamed Ephrata, a name to be applied rather to the region inhabited by the Ephraimite clan composed of the families of the three sons of Hur the Calebite, Shobal, Salma and Hariph, called respectively "fathers" of B. Kiriath-jearim and Beth-gader (cf. 1 Chron. 2, 51, 54; 4, 4; Eusebius, Onomasticon, 42, 10; 82, 10; ed. Klostermann), that is, inasmuch as the Ephraimite stock of Caleb settled in those cities, and gave the name of Ephrata to the region; and it is thus that the Ephrata of Ps. 131, 6 must probably refer to the Ephraimite Kiriath-jearim.
In the Bible B. is named for the first time in connection with the death of Rachel (Gen. 35, 19; 48, 7), but even here it is a question of Ephrata whose identification with B. is considered by many to be a gloss. In Ruth 1, 1-2; 4, 11, as in Mic. 5, 2, the identification of Ephrata with B. is absolutely certain, because it is required by the context and by the parallelism of the phrases; but it is to be noted that not even in these passages does Ephrata entirely lose its character of a region. More frequent is the surname of B. "of Judah" (Judg. 17, 7, 9; 19, 1-18; Ruth 1, 1, 2; 1 Sam. 17, 12; Mic. 2, 1, 5, 6) to distinguish it from another B. in the tribe of Zebulun (Josh. 19, 15). The name of B. is missing from the list that the Masoretic text gives us of the cities of Judah in Josh. 15, 21 ff., but it is found with ten other cities in the addition of the Septuagint (cf. Josh. 15, 59 a).
In Judg. 17, 7-13 the story is told of a young Levite of B. of the family of Micah; there is, however, no reason to suppose that B. had been a Levitical city: it is missing from the list of Judg. 21 and of 1 Chron. 6, 54-81. Of B. was also the wife of the Levite of Ephraim cut to pieces by her husband after the outrage that the inhabitants of Gibeah committed upon her (Judg. 19); but the renown of B. in ancient Israel comes from its having been the homeland of the stock of David (Ruth 4, 17-22), who was anointed king there by Samuel (1 Sam. 16, 13), for which it is also called the city of David (1 Sam. 20, 6; Lk. 2, 4, 11). In the continuous guerrilla warfare between David and the Philistines, the latter came to take possession of B., which at that time appears organized for defense (2 Sam. 23, 14 ff. = 1 Chron. 11, 16 ff.), but the Philistine occupation must have lasted a short time. Later it is mentioned among the cities fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. 11, 6), among the localities that after the exile saw the remnants of their children return (Ezra 2, 21 = Neh. 7, 26).
From that time the glories of B. seemed by then to have set, reduced as it was to a small village; but according to the prophecy of Isaiah, "from the stump of Jesse, that is, from the family of David, a shoot will one day spring up, and from its root a branch will blossom, and in that day the root of Jesse will be as a banner to the peoples" (Is. 11, 1, 10), and in B., according to the oracle of Mic. 5, 2 ff., the Savior of the world will be born (cf. Mt. 2, 1, 5 ff.; Lk. 2, 4 ff., 15; Jn. 7, 42): the glory of having given birth to the Messiah will be imperishable, and its name will never be erased from history.
Indeed the memory of the place of Jesus' birth at B. always remained alive in the primitive Christian tradition, and thus one sees that toward the middle of the 2nd century the Protoevangelium of James (17, 3) with other apocrypha, and St. Justin Martyr (Dialogus cum Tryphone, 78, 5) indicate the place of Christ's birth in a cave situated near the city, a particular this not handed down in the Gospel. The same in Origen (Contra Celsum, I, 51), who adds that the fact was well known and divulged even among the pagans. Later St. Jerome (Epist., 58, 3) and St. Paulinus of Nola (Epist., 31, 3) tell us of the profanation carried out in the Holy Cave by the emperor Hadrian (117-38), who introduced there the cult of Adonis-Tammuz, with an adjoining sacred grove. The piety of Constantine and of St. Helena reconsecrated the cradle of the Redeemer, and fixed for future generations the never extinguished memory of the Cave of the Nativity with the erection of a splendid basilica (cf. Eusebius, De laudibus Constantini, 9, 17; Vita Constantini, III, 41-43), completed already in 333 (cf. Itinerarium Burdigalense, ed. Geyer, p. 25, 3-5). Around the Constantinian basilica monastic life soon flourished, particularly in the time of St. Jerome and of his Roman disciples.
During the revolt of the Samaritans (521-30) B., like other cities, was sacked, and its beautiful basilica had to suffer, probably on that occasion, the very grave fire that destroyed it almost completely, and whose traces have been ascertained in the excavations of 1934. Once the revolt had been put down by the emperor Justinian, he gave orders to rebuild the Basilica and to surround the city with new walls. Providentially saved from the subsequent invasions of the Persians (614) and of the Arabs (638), it was gravely damaged at the approach of the Crusaders, but the Basilica remained unscathed thanks to the timely intervento of Tancred, who, being still at Emmaus, was urgently summoned by the Bethlehemites and, appearing suddenly before B. on 7 June 1099, took possession of the city and planted the crusader banner on the church. Two years later, at B. on Christmas night, Baldwin I was solemnly crowned king of Jerusalem, and the same rite was performed with Baldwin II in 1022. During the crusader occupation, religious life flourished again at B., and the Latin cult knew its greatest splendor. In 1110 Baldwin I obtained from Pope Paschal II that the priory of B. be elevated to an episcopal see, which was done by transferring to B. the see of Ascalon with all its benefices. In 1187 B. was occupied by Saladin, and Christian worship was suppressed, then restored in 1192 but for only a short time, until the truce between Frederick II and the sultan of Egypt Mâlik el-Kâmil (1229) permitted the return of the Christians. A new persecution came when in 1243 the hordes of the Khwarazmians spread through Syria and Palestine putting everything to fire and sword; but fortunately the storm lasted only a short time. Such painful vicissitudes, renewed in the following centuries, reduced B. to a wretched village, left standing, one might say, thanks only to the perennial vitality of its Sanctuary. When in 1834 Ibrahim Pasha punished the rebellion of the Muslims of B. with the destruction of their quarter, the city remained almost entirely Christian and soon began to flourish again, acquiring that cheerful and pleasant appearance that distinguishes it today.
Today B. is a small town of about 7,500 inhabitants, of whom almost half are Catholics of the Latin rite, and the rest are made up of Orthodox Greeks, Syrians, Armenians, Copts, some Protestants, and a few hundred Muslims. Besides the Franciscan Fathers, who have the parish, schools for children, and the "Casa Nova" for pilgrims, there are several institutes of religious of both sexes, who devote themselves particularly to teaching and to charitable work.
II. THE BASILICA OF THE NATIVITY
The old problem that set two theses in opposition, both defended by distinguished archaeologists (a wholly Constantinian origin of the present Basilica, or a remodelling carried out in the time of Justinian in the 6th century), has received a decisive answer, favourable to the second thesis, after the explorations carried out both in the area of the original atrium (1932) and within the basilical precinct, especially in the underground (1934), under the direction of E. T. Richmond and R. W. Hamilton for the former, and of E. T. Richmond and W. Harvey for the latter.
1. The Constantinian basilica
The result of these systematic explorations makes it possible to reconstruct with sufficient accuracy the Constantinian buildings, whose ensemble consisted of three main parts: an octagonal building over the Grotto of the Nativity, the basilica properly so called, and the atrium.
The octagon, measuring 7.80 m. on each side and 18 m. along the great axes, rose like a crown around the sacred place of the Nativity, and presented at its centre a circular opening, 4 m. in diameter, which was reached by two steps that followed the octagonal design of the building all the way around. This opening, surmounted by a precious baldachin and protected by a small parapet, allowed the faithful kneeling around it to see and venerate from above the Holy Grotto and the altar erected over the place of Christ's Birth. On the western side of the octagon, opened by a triumphal arch, stood the basilical hall, formed by a square about 27 m. on a side and divided into five naves (the central one 9.20 m. wide and the other four 3.40 m.) by four rows of monolithic columns, ten for each colonnade. The outer longitudinal walls of the Basilica extended eastward for 7 m. beyond the basilical square, to reach at a right angle the northern and southern sides respectively of the octagon. Thus two spaces, one on each side, of almost triangular shape, were obtained between the octagonal building and the side naves of the Basilica, necessary for liturgical uses, and at the same time a more harmonious solution was given to the union of the octagon with the Basilica. Beneath the triumphal arch a stairway gave access to the Holy Grotto, while two others on the north and south sides of the upper altar facilitated the movement of the faithful.
In front of the façade of the Basilica, which was entered through three doors corresponding to the three middle naves, extended the very vast four-sided porticoed atrium, 73 m. long and 26 m. wide. The covered galleries were of proportions equal to those of the outermost naves of the Basilica, whose lines were prolonged as far as the western portico, but with wider intercolumniations. This extraordinary breadth of the Constantinian atrium, architecturally disproportionate, is well explained if one thinks of the need to offer sufficient shelter to the enormous crowd of pilgrims who flocked to B. for the solemnity of Christmas. At the outer south-eastern corner of the atrium there very probably stood the Baptistery, but no confirmation of this has been obtained.
The considerable remains of the mosaic pavement brought to light, particularly in the central nave and on the north side of the octagon, reveal in their composition, design and execution a technique later than the Constantinian age, which can be placed at the end of the 4th century or the beginning of the 5th. The same conclusion is also suggested by the comparison with other Palestinian mosaics of undoubted date, as well as by the careful study of the manner in which the mosaic was adapted to the worn parts of the thresholds of the Basilica and of the Grotto.
2. Reconstruction by Justinian
Following a very serious fire, probably occurring during the revolt of the Samaritans, the basilica of B. remained almost entirely destroyed. The emperor Justinian ordered its reconstruction, which was conceived with new architectural criteria, especially under liturgical influence. The basilical precinct acquired a greater breadth and a complete unity through the elimination of the octagonal building and the shifting of the inner façade some metres further west, with the addition of the narthex.
With the octagon completely suppressed, there was created to the east of the old basilical square a transverse nave of the width of the central nave, closed at its ends by two semicircular apses projecting beyond the old longitudinal walls that had disappeared. A third apse, symmetrical with those of the transept, rose at the end of the central nave, 8 m. beyond the old octagon, in order to obtain the due proportions. The free arms of the three apses were joined by walls at a double right angle. Beyond the crossing the naves reappear, the outermost side ones with a single bay, the central one with two of different widths. The ideal centre of the Sanctuary underwent no notable changes, the circular opening over the Holy Grotto being preserved, along with the central stairway somewhat raised - by only three or four steps - because of the difference in the new level, and the two side stairways.
At the western end of the basilical square, the old façade having entirely disappeared, a new bay a little wider than the others was added; then followed the narthex or vestibule, 5.50 m. wide, so that the new façade came to stand about 10 m. further west than the old one. The atrium was reduced by about half in the longitudinal direction, because of the restrictions due to the aforementioned constructions (about 10 m.), and by a shortening of about 27 m. in the western part. The need to give a solid foundation to the basilical colonnades advised the construction of continuous walls in the manner of a stylobate about 1 m.
high, whence also the need to raise the pavement to the level of the base of the columns, so that what remained of the old and precious mosaics was covered by a layer of about 80 cm. of heterogeneous fill material.
Such are, in the light of the recent excavations, the principal modifications undergone by the ancient Constantinian Basilica in the reconstruction by Justinian.
3. Present state
Such is also today the general architectural appearance of the interior of the Basilica, though bare and neglected. Indeed, in the Crusader era no changes of any kind were made to the interior. Special mention, however, deserves the splendid decoration in mosaic and painting of the inner walls and of the columns, made in the time of Amalric I king of Jerusalem (1163-73) and of Manuel Porphyrogenitus Comnenus, Byzantine emperor (1143-80), and brought to completion in 1169. Of this distinguished work only a few wretched remains are left. At an unspecified time the stairway that led from the central nave and beneath the crossing into the Grotto of the Nativity disappeared. As for the exterior, already in the time of the Crusaders the façade suffered new remodellings, made probably for reasons of greater security, which broke the harmony of the whole: the side doors were closed, the central one was considerably reduced, and the narthex was divided into three compartments covered with groin vaults. Later the same criteria of defence, besides the encroachment of the neighbouring conventual buildings, disfigured even more and almost completely concealed what remained of the façade. Finally the atrium disappeared entirely, giving way to a simple open esplanade.
III. THE GROTTO OF THE NATIVITY
Today it is reached by two irregular stairways located on the north and south sides of the present choir of the Greek Orthodox. The Holy Grotto has the form of an irregular rectangle 12 m. long by 4 m. in average width, hollowed out of very soft limestone, with the walls reinforced by masonry as is the entire vault. In the
At the eastern end there is a semicircular niche with an altar, beneath which there is on the floor a silver star bearing around it the Latin inscription: Hic de Virgine Maria Iesus Christus natus est. - 1717. A little further back and to the south there is another irregular excavation, where the site of the holy manger is shown, in front of which is placed the altar of the Magi. The walls of the grotto, which in ancient times were decorated with mosaics, are today covered by an asbestos cloth on which are depicted certain scenes from the infancy of the Savior. At the western end of the grotto a small door opens that communicates with other underground sections where various sacred memorials are venerated. These sections communicate to the north by means of a stairway with the church of St. Catherine, served by the Franciscan fathers, and where the parish has its seat.
Since the departure of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine in the 13th century, the sons of St. Francis have been the jealous guardians of the rights of the Catholic Church over the place of Christ's birth; but in the implacable war that the Greek Orthodox repeatedly waged against the Catholics, especially from the middle of the 16th century onward, every right of theirs, often sealed by generous blood shed on the very cradle of the Prince of peace, was overborne with intrigues, abuses, false firmans, fierce persecutions and even armed attacks. Left often alone and defenseless when the intervention of the Catholic powers of Europe was most needed, the Franciscans found themselves, with impotent grief, stripped one after another of the rights of the Catholics whom they represented and strenuously defended to the last. Today nothing remains of their exclusive right except the holy manger and the altar of the Magi with the grottoes adjacent to that of the Nativity, where a devout commemorative procession is held every day. Beside the church of St. Catherine and the precious medieval cloister, the basilica of the Nativity, though still majestic in its entirety, reflects in its squalor, in its bare coldness and in its abandonment a spiritual misery unworthy of the place where the Light of the world appeared in mortal flesh.
Bibliography14 works
Teofilo Antolin