Who introduced the making of a Christmas crib at Christmas?

The custom is popularily attributed to St. Francis of Assisi.- who also founded the Franciscan order- and was a nature-lover to put it mildly. Perhaps that is why the title character of an unusual service comedy was- well Francis the Talking Mule. A Live-animal Creche was presented for some years at the St. John"s Parish off Kennedy Boulevard in Jersey City, above the Square but below the Heights. The Equine component was alive and braying! It lasted well into the sixties.