Simple and airy, the adjoining St. Catherine’s Church (tel. 74 24 25), built by the Franciscans in 1881, is a welcome contrast to the grim interior of the basilica. Use the separate entrance to the north of the basilica, or face the altar in the basilica and pass through one of the doorways in the wall on your left. St. Catherine’s broadcasts a Midnight Mass to a worldwide audience every Christmas Eve. Superbly detailed wood carvings of the 14 stations of the Cross line the walls. The first room, the Chapel of St. Joseph, commemorates the humble carpenter’s vision of an angel who advised him to flee with his family to Egypt to avoid Herod’s wrath. The burial cave of children slaughtered by King Herod (Matthew 2:6) lies beneath the altar and through the grille in the Chapel of the innocents. Beyond the altar, a narrow passageway leads to the Grotto of the Nativity. The way is blocked by a thick wooden door pierced by a peephole.

During earlier times of hostility between Christian sects, this glimpse was as close as Catholics could get to the Greek Orthodox-controlled shrine. To the right of the altar a series of rooms contain the tombs of St. Jerome, St. Paula, and St. Paula’s daughter Eustochia. These lead to the spartan cell where St. Jerome produced the Vulgate, the 4th-century Translation of the Hebrew Bible into Latin.

A solemn procession to the basilica and underground chapels is conducted by the Franciscan Fathers on a daily basis. To join in the 20 minutes of Gregorian cantella-tions and Latin prayer, arrive at St. Catherine’s by noon. St. Catherine’s (and the tomb of St. Jerome) is open daily 5:30am-noon and 2-8pm.