The Cat in the Manger.
Legends persist that numerous animals also occupied the stable when Christ was born. Among the stories is one that claims at the moment Jesus was born, all the animals could speak like humans and also offered praises of glory to the new born King. Some of the legends go back hundreds of years.

One legend that persist is that a mother cat had come to the stable on that very night to also give birth to her kittens. In order to seek a safe haven for her new kittens she crawled under the manger where the New Born King would be placed by Mary. There is of course no mention of this or any other animal stories in Scripture. We are only offered from the book of Isaiah that "An ox knows its owner, and an ass, its master's manger; But Israel does not know, my people has not understood." (Isaiah 1:3).

The stories are more or less, wonderful legends similar to the the song "Little Drummer Boy". What most of the stories try to do, is show how Chirst brings out the faith, hope, charity, and love of all those who seek him.

There are several early paintings of the Holy Family with a cat playfully added to the work. most of these painting show Christ as a toddler, and often also show John the Baptist, along with Elizabeth, Joseph, and Mary. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1592) made a series of sketches of the Madonna and Child with a cat (including the one to the left) but there are no known works of him ever turning one of the sketches into a painting.

So what was the legend of the Cat in the Manger?

It was a cold night in Bethlehem, when a small orange cat, weak from hunger and about to give birth, wandered into a stable to seek shelter from the elements and hopefully find some mice to eat.

The feeble cat, had just managed to make it to the stable and find shelter under a feeding trough, when a young woman, named Mary, also expecting a child was escorted into the stable by her husband, Joseph. Despite the cat's hunger, she was too afraid to leave her hiding place under the manger to chase the mice in the stable. And then the time came for the cat to give birth to her kittens and at this same moment the fair woman, Mary, also gave birth. And at that very moment, a light that was pure and warm shone all about the stable, and the pangs of hunger left the cat, and all of the animals of the stable turned their attention to the child that Mary had delivered.

The cat knew that this child was special and she watched as the woman lay the child on her breast and carefully wrapped the baby in a long towel, for she did not have any proper clothes for the baby. And as she did so the towel began to sparkle a dazzling white, purer than any white the cat had ever seen. After about an hour, some shepherds came to the stable, and their sheep followed behind them, and the shepherds bowed down to the child and paid homage and offered praises to the child. and still more people came to the stable until the young woman became exhausted by all the visitors. And all the while, the cat watched quietly,as the woman nursed her child, and the cat nursed her kittens.

Finally, the woman became so exhausted that she had to sleep, but sleep could not come because of all the visitors. The good husband of the woman finally asked the visitors to please return with the sunrise, and leaving the stable, stood watch outside the entrance to beg other admirers to wait until the new day. And so the people, who wanted to pay homage allowed the young mother to rest for the rest of the night. And so the animals of the stable also lay down to sleep. But the cat and the new mother were not allowed to sleep. The kittens mewed for milk and the cat fed them and they fell fast a sleep, but the new baby did not sleep. And so the mother rocked the child and finally the child went to sleep. but as she lay the child in the manger, he began to cry. The exhausted Mary, went to pick up the child, but the cat, climbed out from the manger, and lay by the head of the Child and began to purr. And as the cat purred, the Child drifted off to sleep and with the Child asleep, Mary also slept. When Joseph return to the stable, he found the cat sleeping in the manger with his Child, and saw Mary fast asleep, The cat gave a quiet meow, and as she did so, her kittens mewed beneath the manger. Joseph heard their cries, and put the kittens in the manger with the mother cat, and then watched over Mary and Jesus as they slept. And as he did so, the purring of the cat, also put Joseph to sleep.

The next morning, Mary and Joseph awoke to find their Son resting peacefully, next to the mother cat and her kittens The mother cat was still purring. Mary knew that the purring of the cat had calmed her Son and had allowed everyone to sleep. Mary saw the compassion (love) the cat had shown her Child, and recognized that the cat had given up (charity, sacrifice) its own night of sleep so that the Holy family could rest and so she thanked the mother cat, and told her that from then on, the cat would wear a symbol on her forehead so that all would know she was a good mother. And so as a sign of great favor, Mary touched the cat's forehead and the the letter "M" appeared. That is why to this day, the tabby cat, carries the mark of the Madonna.

This of course is a nice Christmas Legend but there is no basis for it in Scripture. It is an example of the many stories that persist in popular literature about the the Nativity.