Mexico City
AP
Behaving at their best, a dozen dogs attended Mass at Mexico City’s cathedral Friday, waiting for their turn to de doused with holy water.
The blessing of the animals is a long-time Catholic tradition celebrated on 17th January. On this day, Mexican Catholic congregations and priests welcome pups, cats and the occasional parrot on the feast day of St Anthony the Abbot, considered the patron saint of animals.
Rev José Antonio Carballo, rector of the Metropolitan Cathedral, celebrates the annual blessing of the animals Mass at Mexico City’s Metropolitan Cathedral, Friday, 17th January, 2025. PICTURE: AP Photo/Marco Ugarte
A few parishioners dress up their beloved pets with sweaters or scarves. But all pray to God and their four-legged friends’ patron to keep them healthy and safe.
Karla Flores feels as if Lana, her 11-year-old dog, was a true blessing. Someone abandoned her as a newborn outside her home on 12th December, when millions of Mexican Catholics celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe.
“We found her next to her mom and little brothers inside a box,” Flores said. “We rescued them and gave up most of them for adoption, but we kept her and her mom.”
Recently, Lana has been depressed and sick, Flores said, so a blessing felt in order.
Rocky, a black, poodle-looking dog, came with owner Naydelin Aguilar. He was a gift from her mother during the pandemic, she said, and will forever feel grateful for the joy he’s brought into her life.
“We have faced tough situations,” Aguilar said. “But he’s been like a light for us during the storms we have endured, and this will be his fifth year as part of our family.”
WHO’S A VERY GOOD BOY? MADRID CHURCH DOUSES PETS WITH HOLY WATER
MADRID (Reuters) – Dozens of dogs and cats, a few parrots and a chicken queued up alongside their owners outside a church in Madrid on Friday, waiting their turn to be blessed by a Catholic priest in a popular annual ritual.
In Spain, the feast day of Saint Anthony the Abbot celebrates pets, as the third-century Egyptian hermit is venerated as a patron saint of animals.
A priest blesses a dog at San Anton Church during celebrations on the feast of Spain’s patron saint of animals, Saint Anthony, in Madrid, Spain, on 17th January, 2025. PICTURE: Reuters/Juan Medina
According to legend, he performed numerous miracles involving animals, such as restoring sight to blind boarlets.
On the steps of the baroque Church of St Anthony, 87-year-old priest Angel Garcia sprinkled holy water on the creatures, wishing them good health as well as happiness for their owners. Some parishioners held up pictures of their pets on phone screens to be blessed.
Milagros Hernandez, 53, said she felt very pleased when her dog Yako received the blessing, adding that “it may look like a silly thing to do – but it’s not”.
Chris Ludlow, an English-language teacher from Toronto who lives in Spain, told Reuters the “fantastic” tradition showed “why people really think of animals as their family and not just pets”.
– MICHAEL FRANCIS GORE, Madrid, Spain/Reuters
Rev José Antonio Carballo, rector of the cathedral, addressed the pets waiting attentively and calmly in their owners’ arms during his service.
“We ask the Lord to bless them, so he can preserve them and care for them, since they bring company and encouragement to their caretakers,” Carballo said.
As soon as he finished noon Mass, pet owners headed to the cathedral’s entrance, where Carballo sprinkled holy water on both humans and pets.
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There was Jerome, a black and tan colored yorkie, held by loving owner Gabriela Viquez.
She adopted him four years ago as a pup and immediately fell head over heels for him. Since then, on the anniversary of the day he arrived home, she gets a cake and hosts a party to celebrate Jerome.
“I once spoke to a person who can talk to animals and she told me that he once was a gift for someone, but was later abandoned and beaten, so he carried a lot of trauma,” Viquez said.
“We are now very happy together and it was a fortune to have found each other.”
