St. Columban Nativity Turns 101
Constitution-Tribune, Thursday, December 22, 2011

CAPTION: St. Columban Catholic Church's Nativity scene turned 101 years old this year. The statues were recently repainted, per the donation bequeaths of multiple parishioners, using time-period-correct coloring. The scene was purchased and first used in 1910.

C-T Photo / Drew Van Dyke

One of the religious staples of the Christian winter holiday experience is the Nativity of Jesus Christ. Many persons of the Christian faith, at this time, erect a small, statuette version of the scene (depicting the birth of Jesus - the son of God - in a manger in Bethlehem, surrounded by animals, three wise men, the Virgin Mary and Joseph, and an angel and shepherds, like the event described in the biblical Gospels of Luke and Matthew) within their home. The parish of St. Columban Catholic Church here in Chillicothe is no different - only their scene is bigger. And it is now 101 years old.

"[We] have been doing this for as far back as I can remember," said Steve Tate, a member of the St. Columban assembly, whose family helps set up and maintain the annual scene, and has done so now for three generations. Tatesays that the job is a multi-family effort, and that the statues in the scene were only very recently repainted, using time-period-correct colors, thanks to donational bequeaths left for just that specific cause by multiple parishioners of the church. "We do get compliments," Tate said. "Most of the parishioners seem to enjoy it."

In 1910, St. Columban Catholic Church purchased the Christmas Nativity scene using excess funds accumulated in a special collection drive to pay off debts incurred by additions made to the church building structure. The scene was first set up that year, and has been used ever since. The Nativity scene is placed at the front of the church on the Sunday before Christmas each year. It originally was placed back behind the altar of the church and aloft. Now, however, it is placed before the righthand side altar, in front of the statues of the Blessed Virgin and Christ Child, St. Elizabeth, and St. Francis of Assisi. The scene is supported by multiple wooden sawhorses, hidden under a grayed cloth stage curtain. The scene remains in front of the church until the Celebration of the Epiphany, on January 6.

"It's very peaceful and serene," Tate said. "We are very fortunate to have all of our statues."