Cantius Web Store

St. John Cantius Church in Chicago houses an elaborate 250 year-old Neapolitan “praesepio” from Rome. A presepio is the Italian version of the traditional Nativity Scene or Creche, only much larger. It includes not only the Nativity scene of the Christ Child with the Blessed Virgin, Joseph, shepherds and animals, but also a multitude of village scenes depicting Italian peasant life with villagers dressed in traditional folk costumes.

Originally, this presepio was to be donated to the Vatican but the donor chose rather to bequeath it to St. John Cantius where it is on permanent display in the church’s museum room. In order to generate funds to preserve and maintain our historic praesepio we have created these Praesepio Nativity Ornaments for your purchase. Now you can decorate your home at Christmas with these glass ornaments, painted in Poland.

This Christmas we are happy to offer three different Praesepio Nativity Ornaments, sold individually or in a set of three. This is the “Angel Pink/Blue” ornament. These collector items are available only for a limited time and so they make a wonderful collector’s item. Each year we expect to offer new Praesepio Nativity Ornaments with the various images from our 250 year-old Neapolitan “praesepio.” Purchase your collector-edition Praesepio Nativity Ornaments today!