Saturday, May 3, 2025

Creatures great and small attend church for St. Anthony’s blessing

A wide range of pets paraded through the San Antonio Abad church in Cholula to be blessed in honor of animals’ patron saint, in what was once a worldwide Catholic tradition, but has disappeared in many places.  

The feast day for San Antonio Abad, known as St. Anthony the Great in English, occurs on January 17. Catholic churches all over Mexico celebrate the day by allowing parishioners to bring their animals — with no discrimination on species — to be blessed in St. Anthony’s name.     

After their humans listened to Mass and took communion, the creatures great and small at San Antonio Abad church were escorted to receive their sprinkle of holy water. Afterward, some owners took pictures of their animals next to a flower-decorated altar with the saint’s image. 

Many parishioners bring typical pets like cats and dogs to be blessed, but there is virtually no limit on what kind of animal the priests are willing to bless. (Photo: Graciela López Herrera/Cuartoscuro)

Catholic churches across the city, and across Mexico, welcomed a menagerie of dogs, cats, parrots, turtles, rabbits, sheep and more.

According to Catholic tradition, St. Anthony — a fourth-century Christian monk born in Egypt whose biography helped spread monasticism and Christianity’s ascetic ideal — came to have a special relationship with animals while living an ascetic life in the desert for 13 years. Catholic farmers traditionally looked to St. Anthony to bless their fields and their work with animals.

The blessing of animals is still carried out in some European countries. In the 1990s, the practice saw a revival in some parts of the world where it had been forgotten.  

Puebla’s Juan Feliciano Macuil, the owner of jaripeo bulls, said gratitude is why he brings a different bull to church every year for the blessing. Bulls represent his economic means, he said. 

This year, Feliciano brought Charrasqueado, who the night before “gave a beautiful [show]” at a local fair, according to Feliciano’s companion. 

He stressed that the purpose of bringing pets to church on this day is to ask God, through St. Anthony, that one’s pets and animals grow up healthy so that they can “reproduce constantly to help in daily life.”

The animals were seen to after their humans listened to Mass and took communion. (Photo: Mireya Novo/Cuartoscuro)

Not everyone saw it that way, however: Ernestina García, the owner of the Maltese “Güero,” told the news agency EFE that she asks St. Anthony to take care of and protect her pet, since Güero is her beloved companion.

With reports from Swiss Info and El Universal

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Black and white period photo of military men on horseback riding through the Baja California Peninsula

Who were the 19th-century scoundrels who kept trying to invade the Baja Peninsula?

0
Between 1850 and 1900, a series of failed fortune seekers tried to repeatedly invade the Baja Peninsula and Sonora, men history now calls the filibusters.
A sculpture depicts an eagle devouring a snake atop a nopal cactus, as seen on Mexico's national coat of arms.

Don’t tread on me, Mexican style: A perspective from our CEO

7
While Americans hold tight to their personal independence, attitudes are different south of the U.S. border, Mexico News Daily CEO Travis Bembenek writes.
Masked member of CJNG with rifle

U.S. expands sanctions against Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG)

7
The U.S. has sanctioned CJNG and its fuel theft network, targeting cartel-linked oil smuggling and freezing assets of key players.