I have learned that the words "puppet" and "marionette" are French words.  The word "puppet" means little doll and the word "marionette" means little Mary (the mother of Jesus.)  My understanding is that Christianity flourished in France from about 1550 to 1750(?).  The Italians adopted a lot of their ideas when they started to flourish, so we seem to give the Italians a lot more credit for Christian puppetry.  It seems that the Italians used the French ideas and built it up from them.  Does anyone have any more history about this?

In regards to the word "marionette", I have read that it is not just the reference to Mary but the fact that they have found religious statutes that where actually animated like a puppet and could move limbs, eyes and lips.  For what reason these statutes where animated is debatable. The Christ of Boxley was  on such statue. http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent_messenger/where_i_live/a-e/boxley/about_boxley.aspx http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rood_of_Grace