The 1949 film "Come to the Stable" is about a pair of French Roman Catholic nuns, also called "sisters", who arrive in Connecticut intent on building a children's hospital. While there, they encounter various people who tell them that their task is impossible but they proceed on faith and finally accomplish their goal. Their hospital is named after St. Jude who was one of Jesus' apostles. Jesus had two apostles named Judas and one was renamed Jude to avoid confusion with Judas Iscariot. At one point the nuns hand out St. Jude religious medals to a gangster's henchmen who treat them as coins, one bites the "coin" and another uses it in a vending machine. Clare Boothe Luce, the writer of the story, was a major celebrity during the 1930's and 1940's. She would sometimes hand out gold coins to her friends. Please visit Clare Boothe Luce gift to World War II Navy Officer for more information on one such gift. Note: The "Hospital of St. Jude" portrayed in the film is fictional and has nothing to do with the Memphis Tennessee hospital with a similar name.

Many Biblical allusions appear in the film and the opening has two nuns walking in snow towards a star. The nuns are Sister Scholastica and Margaret from a French convent that was the center of a battle between the Americans and the Germans in 1944. Their French hospital survived the battle and they believe that they should build a hospital in America to show their gratitude. They have picked the Connecticut town of Bethlehem because of it's Biblical significance.

The sisters arrive at a former stable which an artist has converted into a studio.

The artist shows them a painting of a hill and the nuns decide that is the location for their hospital. The nuns walk up the hill to plant a religious medallion

The nuns bury the medallion which is then shown.

The sisters see the local bishop to explain their mission.

The bishop tells them that the Church can not supply them with funds and that they will have to acquire the land and raise the money for the hospital themselves. The nuns find out that the main piece of land they want belongs to Luigi Rossi, a New York gangster. An adjacent piece belongs to a local music composer, Robert Mason, whom they comically meet when they accidently shut off his water. In the town they meet Anthony James who is Robert Mason's assistant.

Anthony finds out that the nuns like to drive fast. Note: Paul Masson is a well-known California wine company. The sisters head to New York to visit Mr. Rossi.

The ladies drive by some New York City landmarks and then visit Mr. Rossi's office.

At first the gangsters pay the sisters off with some small bills. When they see Mr. Rossi they discover that his son was killed in the battle near their hospital in France and may have been treated there. This discovery changes the gangster's attitude and he gives them the deed to his Connecticut land.

He asks that they put up a stained glass window with his son's name. The sisters hand out St. Jude medallions to the henchmen.

The men, for some reason, do not recoginize the medallions and treat them as coins.

The henchman bites the medallion as one would bite a coin in the old days to see if it was good.

This medallion is also treated as a coin.

The henchman puts the medallion into a gumball vending machine.

A whole bunch of gumball fly out of the machine simulationg a slot machine's "jackpot" prize. Some time later, the nuns have leased a small building and have converted it to a chapel. They have also brought over several other nuns from France who have been running a store. Back in Bethlehem, Robert Mason has written a song and his friend Kitty Blaine is with him.

Robert explains that he came up with the music while in France in 1944.

Kitty's medallion does not appear to be religious but it is hard to tell. Robert's friend Al recognizes the tune as a centuries old Gregorian chant.

Robert visits the nuns' chapel and hears the sisters singing a religious song using the same music.

Robert realizes that he heard the music in France when he was near their convent. He then donates his land to the nuns and later a sign appears on the property.

The sign reads "Temporary home of the Hospital of St. Jude." The chapel hosts a dedication ceremony with the bishop presiding.

Robert, Kitty, and others sit in the chapel.

The stained glass window honoring Luigi Rossi Jr. is prominent.

Loretta Young as Sister Margaret
Celeste Holm as Sister Scholastica
Hugh Marlowe as Robert Mason
Thomas Gomez as Luigi Rossi
Dorothy Patrick as Kitty Blaine
Dooley Wilson as Anthony James
Director: Henry Koster
Writers: Oscar Millard, Sally Benson, Clare Boothe Luce (story)