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In many parts of the world, Catholic Christians celebrate “blessing of the animals” in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, one of the patron saints of animals.
In the United States, parishes usually celebrate the blessing of the animals on the Saturday closest to the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, which is October 4th. In the United States, even many Protestant churches celebrate the blessing of animals.
In the above photo, we see Fr. Bob blessing animals at our sister parish, the Basilica Shrine of St. Mary in Wilmington, North Carolina. Families were invited to bring their pets to be blessed. And children who didn’t have live pets were invited to bring their stuffed animals to be blessed. Most of the pets brought to be blessed were dogs, for Americans love dogs.
