St. Patrick’s Cathedral adds a beloved dog to the nativity scene

The nativity scene at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City has an unusual touch this year, a yellow Labrador sitting comfortably beside Mary.

Msgr. Robert Ritchie, the cathedral’s rector, added the statue to the scene. It is modeled after his dog, Lexington, and created by the same studio in Italy that carved the other statues in the crèche.

Fifteen-year-old Lexington has been a beloved member of the St. Patrick’s flock for many years, accompanying Msgr. Ritchie wherever he goes.

Some people have objected to a dog being part of the traditional nativity scene. Msgr. Ritchie thinks there are a few things the statue's detractors should know:

One of the things I tell people is that there is nothing in the Gospel narrative that mentions any animals at Bethlehem, he told TODAY.com.

The ox and donkey are traditional but there is nothing in the Bible mentioning them. The shepherds obviously are mentioned, and wouldn't it be logical for them to bring some of their sheep and their sheep dog to meet baby Jesus?

St. Francis of Assisi was responsible for starting the tradition of the crèche, and he loved dogs. When I was in Assisi last year, I saw the Franciscan Crèche outside his Church and there were dogs in the scene.

The story

Comments

[jackie]

I think there would have been a doggie there..

[Anji]

I think so too... and a cat and mice and rats and whatever else would find itself into the dry and relative warmth

[threecollie]

Sweet and lovely

[Marion]

What a lovely statue...so life-like. Of course there would have been a dog, or maybe even a few, when the babe was born. What other animal has as much love and loyalty for humans as a dog does? XX

[Ellen]

Of course there would have been a dog there. After all, dogs truly are the meaning of unconditional love.

[Heather]

Lovely :)

[cube]

A shepherd would naturally bring sheep and the dogs that herd the sheep. I can't see anything wrong with it.

[Daisy]

I saw this on the news earlier this week also. I think it's just hard for people to accept new traditions intermingled with the old ones.

Have a nice weekend! :)

[georgia little pea]

Oh dear. Surely there must be more important things in the world to debate or put on the news! Why not share the manger? Wouldn't that be in the spirit of the season?

[Snoopy@snoopysdogblog]

Ah,

It's so sweet to see the Doggy there!!

Have a fun weekend,

Your pal Snoopy :)

[Jodi]

LOVE IT!! And that it's a lab, well that just makes me love Msgr Ritchie more!!

[B.J. Bower]

How wonderful is the nativity scene in any form. The dog is so special and reminds my of my granddog who passed away in October.