Christmas Mystery – Solved!

The Story of the Malling Abbey Crib figures

Christmas Crib 2022

Christmas Crib 2022

Each Advent, as the Community discusses preparations for setting up the Christmas crib in church, one or another sister will say, “I wish we knew more about the Nativity set and how we got it.” The invariable response has been, “It’s French.”—the full extent of our information concerning the Nativity we have been using for as long as any of us can remember.

[Editor: We also have an annual debate about the location - see below.]

On the Sunday after Christmas, 2017, armed with a torch, a magnifying glass and the knowledge that most artists sign their work, I went to look at the figures for clues. The detective tools turned out to be unnecessary; there, at the bottom of every human figure with the exception of the Christ Child, were three letters separated by a space: F Py. The identical sign was later found on the anatomy of the cow and the camel, the legitimacy of the latter having been in serious doubt for some decades.

At first, the artist’s sign was assumed to be a monogram. A Google search turned up several learned and expensive manuals available for researching monograms at a price. Fortunately, one Google possibility seemed to imply that F Py was not a monogram but a name. Refining the search confirmed that Denis Fernand Py (1887‒1949) had been a French artist, specializing in religious themes. All of the available information about him was in French [at the time of writing in 2018], but an on-line photograph of a Stations-of-the-Cross figure made by Py led the viewer to believe that this was our man.

Epiphany 2018 featuring the controversial camel

Epiphany 2018 featuring the controversial camel

Sister Mary Michael was asked to translate the information on Fernand Py that was available at www.anicomb89.com [no longer available]. The account which follows summarizes her translation: Denis Fernand Py was born on 10 January 1887 in a modest house on the Rue du Hasard in Versailles and served his apprenticeship as a sculptor in Paris with makers of furniture. In 1920, he joined a group of artists in revolt against the current trends in religious art. In 1921, he established a studio in Sommeville, near Auxerre, where a street was eventually renamed in his honour. As commissions became more and more numerous, his works began to be found in “modest or more wealthy collections, such as museums, churches and abbeys.” He was also a prodigious designer, leaving behind many sketches, paintings and watercolours. His work was characterized by a simple quality of form combined with his fertile artistic imagination. On his deathbed in August 1949, Py gave only one piece of advice to his favourite pupil: look always for greater and greater depth. His motto was “L’art est long, la vie est brève.” This maxim was engraved on the stone lintel of the front door of his house in Sommeville by his friend, François Brochet.

The next question to be investigated was how a Nativity set made by a French artist came to be at Malling Abbey. Our archives include a collection of Day Books compiled by former Abbesses or, in the early years, abstracts of their notes. If information concerning the provenance of the Py Nativity set existed at all, it would be found here. Working backward from 1954 which was the latest year we could be sure that the Py set was in use at Malling Abbey and skipping the War years when shipping would have been impossible, we found the following entry in the 1936‒1940 Day Book, made up of abstracts from Mother Mary’s notes:

December 26, 1939—Berta1 rang up after I had gone to my room and S. Therese answered. It was to say that her French crib was in Westminster Abbey near the tomb of the Unknown Warrior, the first crib since the Reformation, she said with a prayer desk in front and flowers. She wants to give us the other (duplicate) set for the Barn Chapel, if Lady Abbess will have it.

Mother Mary must have agreed to accept this gift; a note, dated 5 January 1940, confirms that Berta’s French crib “for the Barn Chapel” had arrived at Malling Abbey.

Record of the Malling Abbey Crib Figures 2018

Record of the Malling Abbey Crib Figures 2018

We next decided to try to corroborate the Day Book information, if possible, with Westminster Abbey. A letter of enquiry and digital photographs of the figures and the Py signature were sent to the Chapter Office. Miss Christine Reynolds, Assistant Keeper of the Muniments, responded by e-mail, saying that the first crib figures acquired by Westminster Abbey were indeed identical to our set, but that no details of the identity of the donor nor the artist had been kept in their records. Miss Reynolds sent a digital photograph of the Westminster Py set on display in the nave near the grave of the Unknown Warrior. In 1965, a new Nativity set was specially commissioned from Oberammergau for the 900th anniversary of St. Edwards Abbey, Westminster, and it is not known where the Py set went.

Westminster Abbey Crib Figures pre-1966

Westminster Abbey Crib Figures pre-1966

It is interesting to ponder the serendipity that the first Nativity at Westminster Abbey since the Reformation was created by a French, Roman Catholic artist and that it was set up in the opening months of the Second World War.

It is unlikely that the Py Nativity set given by Berta Travers to Malling Abbey was ever used at the Barn Chapel. The Community was evacuated to Fownhope, Herefordshire in May 1940 and did not return to Malling Abbey until June 1945. It is likely that the Py Nativity was first used by the Community at Christmas in 1945. It has served us well for the past 72 years.

1Berta Travers was an oblate and benefactor of Malling Abbey. Her generosity enabled us to build the East Wing and the Portress’s Lodge (St. Michael’s Cottage) in 1935. She died in 1968.

Sr Mary Owen – 2 February 2018 (added to website on 28 December 2024)

Variations on a Theme

Each year we also have a debate as to where the crib should be placed, there not being any one place that works well for illumination, visibility for both guests and community, and not being in the way of the liturgy. Here are a variety of locations and styles:

Christmas 2011 by the pillar in NE corner of the sanctuary

Christmas 2011 by the pillar in NE corner of the sanctuary (the most preferred location for many years)

Christmas 2015 in NE corner of the sanctuary

Christmas 2015 in NE corner of the sanctuary

Christmas 2022 under NW corner of the altar

Christmas 2022 under NW corner of the altar, enabled by new lighting for altar

Christmas 2024 in front of guest chapel

Christmas 2024 in front of guest chapel, with electric light making use of a new socket

Epiphany 2018 by the pillar in NE corner of the sanctuary

Epiphany 2018 by the pillar in NE corner of the sanctuary

Epiphany 2019 by the pillar in NE corner of the sanctuary, Estonian style

Epiphany 2019 by the pillar in NE corner of the sanctuary, Estonian style

Epiphany 2024 in front of the altar

Epiphany 2024 in front of the altar