Name: Made in Connecticut: The Creche at the Abbey of Regina Laudis
Uploaded: 2025-12-23T17:50:44.450Z
Duration: 2 min 37 s
Description: During this Christmas week, we travel to a creche that was not originally Made in Connecticut, but it was fully refurbished here. It’s a display that attracts visitors from far and wide.

During this Christmas week, we travel to a creche that was not originally Made in Connecticut, but it was fully refurbished here. It’s a display that attracts visitors from far and wide.

Bethlehem

A Baroque Neapolitan nativity scene, one of only four in the United States, is housed at the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut. Originally from Naples, Italy, and gifted to the abbey in 1948, the nativity has been fully refurbished and is displayed in a historic barn.

The display attracts visitors from various countries, regardless of religious background, and is open to the public until January 7th, with plans to reopen on Easter Sunday. The Benedictine nuns at the abbey share the nativity as a gesture of hospitality and tradition.

Made in Connecticut: The Creche at the Abbey of Regina Laudis

Well, during this Christmas week we traveled to a crush, not originally made in Connecticut, but fully refurbished here. It's a display that attracts visitors from far and wide. News 12's Rebecca Saran has the story. ♪♪ Beneath the beams of an 18th century barn in Bethlehem, Connecticut, is one of only four Baroque Neapolitan crushes in the United States. The other three are in major art institutes, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Mother Angele gave us a tour. How did this come to the Abbey? We received it from a friend of our foundress, Loretta Hines Howard, and she was a big collector of crushes. Actually, she gave it to the Abbey in 1948. ♪♪ The nativity is housed on the grounds of the Abbey of Regina Laudis, where an order of Benedictine nuns lives a cloistered life, dedicated to prayer and work within the monastery grounds. And while they are largely separated from the outside world, they share the crush with visitors far and wide. You have people come from all over the world. It's a destination. It is. It really is. Where are some of the locations come from? From Ireland, Brazil, Austria. The crush comes from Naples, Italy. The Cork village behind the figures is a replica of the Neapolitan hill town. This is Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples, but you have to kind of merge Naples and Bethlehem, and then you'll be fine. Not everybody who comes here is Catholic. Not everybody is religious in any form. Not everybody comes expecting the same thing. ♪♪ And in that is the gift from the nuns at the Abbey of Regina Laudis from their 300-year-old barn in Bethlehem, Connecticut. This is a simple message. It's a pure message. It's something that immediately recreates the birth of Christ. It's something that we're able to share. It means a great deal to us. For Maiden, Connecticut, I'm Rebecca Saran. And the crush is open to the public from now until January 7th. It will reopen on Easter Sunday.

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