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The Story of the Nativity Cat

10/26/2011

3 Comments

 
Picture
See these three beauties?  They're my other children - Piper, Zoey and Lucy.  Piper and Lucy are sisters we found behind our work-building when they were about 5 weeks old.  Zoey came two years later, a banged up kitten of 5 weeks with two impossibly broken legs and a horrible respiratory infection.

Anyway, I've had tabby cats all my life.  I find them to be the most beautiful of all cats with their interesting markings and special relation to the Blessed Mother.  What relationship is that?  Well, there's a old legend that goes a little something like this:

The night Jesus was born, the air was very cold and damp.  Little baby Jesus was shivering, and the Blessed Mother was unable to warm Him enough.  Even the oxen who crowded around their God could not provide enough heat for Him.  In walks a beautiful tabby cat who hops into Christ's cradle and curls up beside Him, sharing his warmth and lulling Him to sleep with constant purrs of love and gratitude.  The little Christ-Child was soothed and warmed, and as a result of this act of kindness, the grateful Mother raised her hand in blessing over the humble creature.

This is why tabby cats are honored with the familiar "M" mark on their foreheads.  It denotes the special blessing Our Lady imparted to them through the generosity of the small cat who wandered in to pay homage to his King.

Ever since hearing that story as a small child, I'd bless my tabbies by placing my thumb over the "M," thanking Our Lady for her blessing, then praying a Hail Mary over my furbaby asking for her continued protection.  I'd repeat this every so often with ALL my tabbies.  Zoey's my first cat who isn't a tabby.  She's all black!  Ha ha.  So when I pray over my two girls with the familiar "thumb over the 'M' motion," I feel like I'm sorta leaving Zoey out of the mix.  Of course I ask Our Lady to bless her, too, but it doesn't feel the same. 

Ha ha.  Ah well.  I realize that's silly, but just something I was thinking about tonight after snuggling up with my girls.  It reminded me to share the story of the Nativity Tabby with those of you who might not have known it otherwise!  :)

3 Comments
Rebecca Figueroa
6/2/2014 03:54:47 am

Thanks for sharing your sweet story!

Reply
Beryl
12/16/2014 05:09:05 am

Beautiful tabbies they are my favourite kitties too

Reply
Laura
4/25/2018 11:08:00 am

Thank you for sharing this beautiful story about how tabby cats received the "M" on their foreheads! This really has very special meaning to me as my husband and I came home on Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, to find a tabby kitten under my car in our driveway. It was about 11 pm and a very cold night here in Michigan, and the kitty was sitting on a patch of ice as that is what covered our driveway that night. I have a great devotion to the Blessed Mother as the Immaculate Conception, and to her Rosary, and had literally just given a Miraculous Medal to a man who lost his grandson to suicide right before we came home that night. So when we saw this kitty under my car in the driveway --- the first time a stray of any sort appeared near our home in 30 years of marriage! --- I truly believe the Lord wanted us to take her in. We tried to locate an owner to no avail. Given the timing relative to my gifting of the Miraculous Medal that evening, and it being the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and the fact that we found this tabby kitten on a patch of ice, we named the tabby kitty "I.C." (I hope that is not sacrilegious). Only recently did I do some research about tabbies and came across an article about the "M" on their foreheads and various stories/legends about how it came to be there. But your story is my favorite, given the significance of this kitten "finding" us on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, kind of like the tabby in the Nativity story found Baby Jesus! Our I.C. came fully stocked with fleas, ear mites and tapeworms, but after a few trips to the vet she is clean, spayed and an absolute joy to us now some 4 months later! She truly warms our lives with her presence and sweet love - and loves to cuddle in bed, purring all the while! We thank God for putting her in our life for so many reasons. And, as odd as it may sound, she is a constant living reminder of Our Blessed Mother as the Immaculate Conception --- and with your story of Blessed Mother placing the "M" there on her forehead, now more than ever! Thank you!

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