Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 17, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 27, 2026
Add as preferred source on Google
In Madrid, pets are blessed with holy water in an annual ceremony celebrating Saint Anthony the Abbot, the patron saint of animals.
By Michael Francis Gore
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.
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".
(Reporting by Michael Gore; Writing by David Latona; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Frances Kerry)
The article discusses the annual pet blessing ceremony in Madrid, where pets are blessed with holy water in honor of Saint Anthony the Abbot.
The event celebrates Saint Anthony the Abbot, the patron saint of animals, and highlights the bond between people and their pets.
Pet owners in Madrid bring their pets, including dogs, cats, parrots, and even chickens, to receive blessings from a Catholic priest.
Explore more articles in the Headlines category
