St. Michael’s Christmas Eve pageant a full-circle experience for many local families
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Kyle Gapinski plays the innkeeper during a live Nativity pageant before a Christmas Eve mass at St. Micheal the Archangel Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more photos, go to photos.butlereagle.com
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Mary and Joseph are played by Iris and Marco Savannah during a live Nativity pageant before a Christmas Eve mass at St. Micheal the Archangel Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more photos, go to photos.butlereagle.com
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Mary and Joseph are played by Iris and Marco Savannah during a live Nativity pageant before a Christmas Eve mass at St. Micheal the Archangel Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more photos, go to photos.butlereagle.com
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Local children help tell the story of Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus through their annual live Nativity pageant before a Christmas Eve mass at St. Micheal the Archangel Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more photos, go to photos.butlereagle.com
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Local children help tell the story of Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus through their annual live Nativity pageant before a Christmas Eve mass at St. Micheal the Archangel Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more photos, go to photos.butlereagle.com
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Kinsely Thompson plays the Angel of the Lord during a live Nativity pageant before a Christmas Eve mass at St. Micheal the Archangel Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more photos, go to photos.butlereagle.com
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Local children help tell the story of Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus through their annual live Nativity pageant before a Christmas Eve mass at St. Micheal the Archangel Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more photos, go to photos.butlereagle.com
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Local children help tell the story of Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus through their annual live Nativity pageant before a Christmas Eve mass at St. Micheal the Archangel Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more photos, go to photos.butlereagle.com
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Local children help tell the story of Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus through their annual live Nativity pageant before a Christmas Eve mass at St. Micheal the Archangel Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more photos, go to photos.butlereagle.com
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Local children help tell the story of Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus through their annual live Nativity pageant before a Christmas Eve mass at St. Micheal the Archangel Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more photos, go to photos.butlereagle.com
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Local children help tell the story of Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus through their annual live Nativity pageant before a Christmas Eve mass at St. Micheal the Archangel Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more photos, go to photos.butlereagle.com
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Local children help tell the story of Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus through their annual live Nativity pageant before a Christmas Eve mass at St. Micheal the Archangel Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more photos, go to photos.butlereagle.com
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Harvey plays shepherd during a live Nativity pageant before a Christmas Eve mass at St. Micheal the Archangel Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more photos, go to photos.butlereagle.com
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Nicole Laborie plays the flute before a live Nativity pageant before a Christmas Eve mass at St. Micheal the Archangel Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more photos, go to photos.butlereagle.com
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Kinsely Thompson plays the Angel of the Lord during a live Nativity pageant before a Christmas Eve mass at St. Micheal the Archangel Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle. For more photos, go to photos.butlereagle.com
BUTLER — Herb Nichol can easily pick out the point in time when live Nativity scenes were first acted out and the extensive background behind the timeless tradition.
In addition to that knowledge, he’s had plenty of practice bringing the revered scene to life with two and a half decades of experience as the director of the St. Michael the Archangel Roman Catholic Church’s Christmas pageant.
“It’s been a tradition here at St. Michael’s for a very long time,” Nichol said before the latest installment of the spectacle on Tuesday, Dec. 24. “My wife and I have been involved for over 25 years, and both of our kids were in it.”
Nichol, who also is on the church’s pastoral council, leads anywhere between 10 to 20 elementary-aged children as they tell the story of Christmas in front of a congregation of more than 300 members of All Saints Parish just before Christmas Eve Mass commences.
He said the pageant has come full circle for numerous families within the church community. The older members of the church can remember playing a role in the pageant and now have their own children starring as the same cast of characters that include Mary, Joseph, the Three Wisemen, shepherds and angels.
“It’s a unique thing,” he said. “I think it’s really what this whole season’s about. It’s tradition, and it’s family getting together to have family traditions. Just one of those things that you did when you were younger that you remember all of your life because you continue to do it.”
Nicole Laborie is just one example of someone who annually performed in the pageant and has stuck around to add music to the scene as the flutist well into her early adulthood.
“I think growing up with it, it was cool to do it with my friends and try to move up to the different roles to be like Mary and the lead angel,” she said. “Some older girls had played the flute for the pageant, and that’s when I had gotten the idea to take over playing the flute. I think when I was about 12 I started playing. It’s just become a really nice tradition because it was something that meant so much to me as a kid, and I’m still able to do it.”
It’s also been thought of as an enjoyable learning experience, according to Nichol, since children are sometimes better equipped to retain information when they’re actively participating in the famed event.
“The best way to learn something is by doing it,” Nichol said. “These children partake in this story and, I think, it becomes (an event) that means something to them. It hits home. It touches their heart because they can say ‘Oh I was Mary or I was an angel or one of the three kings.’ It’s just really special.”
