A recently unearthed letter from the seven-year-old Joseph Ratzinger to “Baby Jesus” reveals the future pope’s desire to be a priest and his devotion to the Sacred Heart:
Dear Baby Jesus,
Quickly come down to earth. You will bring joy to children. Also bring me joy. I would like a Volks-Schott, green clothing for Mass, and a heart of Jesus. I will always be good.
Greetings from Joseph Ratzinger
“Volks-Schott” was a German prayer book. The green clothing refers to clerical garb Ratzinger and his brother would wear when “playing priest.”
“The Pope was very glad to find the letter and its contents made him smile,” said the pope’s secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein.
It wouldn’t be the last time God would hear from Joseph Ratzinger.
December 22nd, 2012 | 7:35 am
A relevant cultural fact: in Germany, it is the Christ child who gives good children presents on Christmas day.
December 22nd, 2012 | 12:02 pm
I lived in Austria as a child, and there, too, it was the Christ child who gave us gifts on Christmas. ST. Nicholas visited earlier in December on his feast day—he dropped by the house with his companions (an angel and Krampus, the devil) to sing some carols and to check out our behavior. He would leave gifts of candy—or coal and switches in the case of my older brothers—in the shoes we’d left outside our doors before we went to sleep.
December 22nd, 2012 | 8:45 pm
In Colombia it is also Baby Jesus (el Niño Dios), though for commercial reasons Santa Claus seems to be making inroads on his turf with the current generation.
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