You can see it, but you won’t read about it
The story of the nativity, as told in the New Testament Gospels is the story of Christmas. The donkey is one of the central characters in the story; it carries a pregnant Mary to Jerusalem for the census and is also present in the stable at Christ’s birth … or is it?
Birth of Jesus. Marble relief, Naxos, late fourth or early fifth century. Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens (BXM 000312). Image in the Public Domain.
Iconography (paintings, sculptures, mosaics, etc) from as early as the fourth century depicts the ass, alongside an ox, gazing at the Christ-child in the manger. Yet the two gospels that detail the nativity, Matthew and Luke, do not mention the beasts of burden. This though, does not mean that the gospels are silent on the question of the ass in the stable, the apocryphal gospels of James and the pseudo-Matthew each note the presence of the ass alongside an ox. These two sacred books, along with several others, did not make the final canon that became the New Testament; and whilst that is another story for another day, you can read more about the apocryphal gospels here.
Clearly Christians, from the earliest of times, imagined the ass alongside the Christ child. It appears in several stone sculptures from the fourth and fifth centuries. These images embody the words of the pseudo-Matthew: and an ox and an ass bent their knees and worshiped him [14.1]. In the early-Christian example above attention is focused on the Christ child amidst nature; His parents were yet to make an appearance (Harley-McGowan).
By the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, nativity iconography had become more elaborate and depicted an extended nativity tale that often included the holy family, shepherds, and wise men bearing gifts. In this late twelfth-century mosaic (Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome), the ass remained close to the manger still gazing adoringly at the holy child, as the pseudo-Matthew had described. Whilst the gospel might have been decreed apocryphal, that hadn’t prevented centuries of Christians imagining, depicting and seeing the ass in the stable and recognising the infant’s significance.
By the time of this mosaic’s creation, the ass was making its presence known in other ways. St Francis had already had a live ass brought into his church to celebrate the Christmas mass and this started a trend that would persist to the present day. Live asses also played a role in another the Christmas liturgical calendar. In the Feast of Fools (also known as the Feast of the Subdeacons), as the choir sung a solemn chant, a live ass was paraded in the church. Although this ritual has been understood as a parody and moment for mischief making, recent scholarship has shown that in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries it was a solemn occasion. The ass and the subdeacons who carried the Eucharist were representative of the literal and figurative bearers of Christ.
Even in the iconography of the late medieval/Renaissance period, the ass was firmly cemented as an integral character in the story of the nativity; however, it was not always depicted earnestly. Please use the link to see this 1527 carving of the nativity scene. It is Southern Netherlandish and depicts the adoration of the shepherds. For some reason, the sculptor could not resist inserting some humour into this solemn occasion and the ass is straining to reach the hay; obviously hunger overrides his adoration of the infant Jesus. It seems that the ass can never quite shake off it’s foolish persona. (I haven’t posted the image in case it breaches copyright).
For a gospel that did not make the final cut in the sacred canon, the pseudo-Matthew’s depiction of the ass in the stable has been an enduring legacy.
References, Images and Further Reading
