The story of Christmas has had a powerful hold on the imagination of writers around the world for centuries. At the heart of that story is the Nativity and the mystery of the incarnation: the astounding idea that God’s omnipotence should be manifest in the form of a helpless infant born in a stable.

The images of Christmas that we find in modern English literature are inspired by the great English translations of the Bible, including (for many Catholic writers) the Douay-Rheims Bible, which was produced between 1582 and 1610, effectively predating the King James Version.