As we approach 2022, we can celebrate the end of 2021. This year brought us some serious challenges–vaccine mandates, higher energy prices, inflation, supply chain problems, increasing crime rates in some of our major cities, etc. Unfortunately, some of these challenges will continue into the coming year. As we approach 2022, I would like to tell the story of something that happened in New York City in the early 1930’s.

The historical information in this article comes from Classic New York History.

If you have ever wandered around New York City, you probably noticed the two majestic lions outside of the New York City Public Library’s main branch on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. The lions were originally named Jacob Aster and James Lenox, after the founders of the library.

The article at Classic New York History notes:

…Later, folks decided to dress them up in costume and name them Lady Astor and Lord Lenox. No one seemed to mind the renaming, despite the fact that both lions had full male manes. Whether it be top hat and tails or evening gowns and jewels, the lions perched proudly despite the indignity of having to wear such silly outfits. It was all in good fun. Sports fans would decorate Patience and Fortitude (their names were changed–information below) in team gear, including a scarf blazing with one team’s colors, only to have it removed and replaced with another. This became a tradition, particularly around World Series time each year, as New Yorkers have always taken their baseball seriously. Any Red Sox fans who would dare to co-op the lions for their team would be dealt with in New York Style. That usually meant getting much more than a simple Bronx “cheer.” After all, from their beginning, the New York Public Library’s lions have been the city’s unofficial mascots.

Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia, having won the New York mayoral election in 1933 had his hands full with many tasks in his new position. He had to clean up the street crime, deal with the banking industry, and worry about the stock market. It was a political high wire act for a mayor in a society that feared the ever growing juxtaposition between the extravagantly wealthy and those living in crippling poverty.

As Mayor, LaGuardia officially renamed the pair of library lions, Patience and Fortitude, which was just what the city needed, as it was still struggling to recover from the 1929 stock market crash and massive unemployment. One of the major hurdles the mayor had to contend with was the image of Italian immigrants. Depicted in films and literature as notorious gangsters, he set out to show the positive side of Italian-American culture. The fact that he named the two gorgeous stone lions that were crafted by a family of immigrant workers just emphasized his point. Italian-American immigrants were and still are known as excellent stone masons and construction contractors. The Piccirilli family and other such artisans helped make New York what it is today.

It may seem like a small thing to rename the lions, but it reminded everyone of the need for patience and fortitude. We are going to need that same patience and fortitude to get through the coming year.