Michael Francis Gore
MADRID (Reuters) – Dozens of dogs and cats, several parrots and one chicken lined up next to their owners outside a Madrid church on Friday, waiting their turn to be blessed by a Catholic priest in a popular annual ritual.
In Spain, pets are celebrated on the feast of Saint Anthony the Abbot, because the Egyptian hermit from the third century is revered as the patron saint of animals.
According to legend, he performed numerous miracles involving animals, such as restoring sight to blind boars.
On the steps of the baroque church of St. Anthony, 87-year-old priest Angel Garcia sprinkled the creatures with holy water, wishing them good health and happiness to their owners. Some parishioners held pictures of their pets on their phone screens to bless them.
Milagros Hernandez, 53, said she was very pleased when her dog Yako received the blessing, adding that “it might seem like a silly thing – but it’s not”.
Chris Ludlow, an English teacher from Toronto who lives in Spain, told Reuters the “fantastic” tradition showed “why people really consider animals to be family and not just pets.”
