Marian Helper • Summer 2025 • Marian.org 29 Giovanni Batista Piranesi to the Corner House, which Rockwell acknowledged as “very generous of you. We shall certainly put a card under it, saying it is a gift from The Marian Fathers.” On April 1, 1969, Rockwell responded to a request to appraise a painting given to the Marians. “Right now I am in a squeeze,” he wrote. “I am painting a picture of the Astronaut Moon Landing and there is an inexorable due date and, until I finish the picture, I had better not see anybody because there is a lot of work on it.” Christmas in Bethlehem The greatest Rockwell claim to fame for the Marian Fathers is the painting “Uneasy Christmas in the Birthplace of Christ (Christmas Eve in Bethlehem),” which was published in Look magazine on Dec. 29, 1970. Rockwell had spent the previous December in the Holy Land, having decided to paint a Christmas scene. The Basilica of the Nativity was chosen, built above the spot where Jesus was born. “On Christmas Eve, from the roof of a Bethlehem hotel, he gathered impressions for his painting and directed photography,” according to the Norman Rockwell Museum. “He was particularly impressed by the ‘sumptuous’ presentation of the high priests, cardinals, and bishops as they proceeded to the Basilica. ‘It is indeed a tremendous spectacle and, although I am not a religious man, I was greatly impressed,’ he said.” Back in Stockbridge, Rockwell did not have to go far for models and costumes. Marian Helpers Bulletin in 1987 told the story. “Norman Rockwell made it a rule never to fake anything, always to use if possible authentic props and costumes. He just came up to our monastery here on Eden Hill and asked us to help him with vestments worn by prelates and clergy.” Three Marians agreed to come to his studio and pose in clerical attire as a bishop, priest, and cross bearer, as leaders of the procession. “When the painting was done, Mr. Rockwell called us for a final check to see if any corrections needed to be made,” continued Marian Helpers Bulletin. “That’s when this photo (below) was taken.” Rockwell also gifted a signed print to the Marians. The painting, Marian Helpers Bulletin concluded, “reflects the uneasy ‘peace on Earth’ which still eludes mankind as evidenced by the presence of armed soldiers.” The Norman Rockwell Museum is located at 9 Glendale Road in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, a short drive from the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy. For more information, visit NRM.org
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