Milk Grotto Church

The second obligatory visit is the place next to the Nativity church. Coming here you will walk along a narrow street where there will be a lot of souvenir shops. I would recommend to look only at the last shop on the same side, there will be this small church. There you will find handicrafts from from the oliven tree, which are made here on the spot. The church is small. I would even say a very small. You will need a little time to visit it, but probably more time to feel it. I've been to this church a couple of times, but I didn't fully feel it. Next time we will try to stay here a little longer.

can you imagine that there is a place where Jesus was fed by Mary . yes there is near Church of Nativity , Bethlehem where you can get lots of olive wood items near the market .The Grotto Church is where Jesus was fed by Mary . it was a safe place from animals .It is very nice place , well maintained and the place is very peaceful.each year pilgrims visit this place to pay a tribute to the human god .This place is quite near to place where Jesus was born .and the three maji visited .

The church was built in 1872 on the site of a fifth century Byzantine church. According to the Christian tradition, it is on this very spot that Mary and her new born baby Jesus rested on the way of their flight to Egypt, to escape King Herod’s Massacre of the Innocents. As Mary breastfed her child, a few drops of milk fell on the floor of the grotto and turned the stone white. Since then, the grotto has been visited by both locals and pilgrims from all over the world, Christians and non-Christians, and especially by couples who believe in Mary’s power to bless them with fertility. The display of votive letters and objects in anticipation of the healing powers of Mary is quite impressive.

It is said that the powder of the rock on which a drop of milk fell while mother Mary was breastfeeding baby Jesus cures illnesses if you have faith. This is the place where the Holy family stayed as they escaped king Herod's wrath.

Grotto of Our Lady or Milk Grotto, is a Catholic chapel in Bethlehem, in the West Bank of the State of Palestine, erected in 1872. Since Byzantine times, the place has been a center of Christian pilgrimage, maintained since its last erection together with its Marian shrine and monastery by the Custody of the Holy Land of the Order of the Friars Minor of the Catholic Church in Palestine

Tucked away behind Nativity Square, not far from the Church of the Nativity that, according to Christian tradition, marks the spot where Jesus was born in the manger, is the Milk Grotto. This is the location where, according to another tradition, Mary nursed the Infant Jesus and where a few drops of her milk fell onto the rocks, turning the soft limestone from its original yellowish-brown hue to a creamy white. In a tradition dating back centuries — possibly even to the earliest Christians — women and couples who are unable to conceive have come to this grotto to pray to Mary, in hopes that her intercession will bless them with a baby. Today, pilgrims can take home tiny packets of white powder from the grotto, and together, the couple for 40 days follows a devotion that includes drinking small amounts of the powder and saying a prayer. The bags are sold at a symbolic cost but can only be purchased at the grotto since the requests would be overwhelming to manage. In the 12 years since Brother Lawrence Bode, the Franciscan caretaker of the shrine, has been keeping records, there have been about 4,000 letters from couples attributing their miracle babies to the “milk powder.”

A very nice church in a cave. Christian tradition says is the place where the Holy Family found refuge during the Massacre of the Innocents, before they could flee to Egypt. The name is derived from the story that a "drop of milk" of the Virgin Mary fell on the floor of the cave and changed its colour to white

Another very important place for Christians in Bethlehem, close to the Church of the Nativity. A small cave where the holy family hid on their way to Egypt. According to tradition, Mary nursed Jesus here and a few drops of milk fell to the ground. Since then, the walls of the cave are white. Women from all of the world, who cannot get pregnant, are coming here and praying for miracle. Free entry.