QUEENS VILLAGE — Estevao Neitzke carefully drops the figurine of St. Joseph into place. Jacob Chavez mixes sand and clay to represent the landscape of the Holy Land and applies it to the plywood base. Juan Jose Luna places animal figurines on a three-foot-high cardboard mountain. 

It’s all in a day’s work for this year’s Nativity display at the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Queens Village. 

The three young men are among 18 students at the seminary, at Incarnation Parish, who built its fifth annual Nativity, also called a Crèche, or Belén in Spanish, or Presepio in Italian. This is the 800th anniversary of the first Nativity display that was crafted by St. Francis of Assisi. 

This year’s Belén is on a patio area adjacent to both the seminary and church. It’s the first Belén the seminary has ever set up outside. Most Nativities just show the traditional manger, but the seminary wanted to do more this year. 

The 21-year-old Neitzke is a second-year seminarian from Brazil, who also works with the Neocatechumenal Way community at Our Lady of Peace Church in Park Slope. He oversaw this year’s project. He and Father Julio Cesar Sanchez, rector of the seminary, sketched out a plan for the display in November.

“We want to catechize,” Neitzke said of the Belén’s purpose. “We do it especially for the kids. I hope they don’t just see a little story but as preparation for Jesus coming at Christmas. The desire I have is to have them recreate it at their homes.” 

Despite the 39-degree temperature he and his fellow seminarians braved on that December day, Neitzke had no complaints. “Doing this is relaxing,” he said of working on the Belén. “Putting all the pieces in the perfect place is what God has been doing in my life, shaping me, helping me see the call to my vocation.” 

The Belén covers an 8-foot-by-10-foot area on a platform that is 3 feet off the ground. Above the display is a canopy of translucent plastic panels for protection from the elements. Strings of white lights on the canopy and others woven throughout the display illuminate the different biblical scenes depicted. 

The roughly 200 figurines include those of the Holy Family, shepherds, and animals. All were bought by the seminary. But the palm trees and structures, including an Egyptian pyramid as well as the mountain in the center of the display, were crafted by the seminarians from cardboard and paper. 

The mountain also serves Father Sanchez’s and Neitzke’s aim to surprise visitors. 

When first coming to the Belén, visitors see the Annunciation to Mary, then the angel’s visit to St. Joseph, followed by buildings that depict Nazareth and then statuettes of the Three Kings. 

Hidden on the other side of the mountain is a re-creation of the Temple in Jerusalem, the village of Bethlehem, shepherds in a field, the Nativity manger, with a lighted gold star hanging directly above it representing the Star of Bethlehem, and finally the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt. Each scene has a small placard explaining what’s depicted. 

Among those who braved the rainy weather that night was Billy Mentle of Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish in Jamaica with his two nephews, David Monico, 9, and Matteo Cortez, 7. 

“It’s a good thing to help them learn about Christmas,” Mentle said. “They read about it, but this helps them see it in person. This is the first time for me to see it. It’s very good. It’s inspirational.” 

David said, “I like all the horses and lambs and trees.” 

“Thank you,” was Matteo’s message to the seminarians who built it. 

Father Sanchez said the Belén will stay up until January. Father Miguel Ángel Cervantes, the vice rector, said if someone wants to stop by and see it, all they need to do is knock on the seminary’s door to ask for access to the patio.