Step early in la vita di Cristo? (5)
I believe the answer is:
tread
'step' is the definition.
(synonyms)
I cannot understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tread that I've seen before include "Part of flight" , "Grooves on tyre" , "Top surface of a stair step" , "Stomp heavily" , "pace" .)