A long long long time ago, in my mamma's homeland of Italia, a man named Giovanni was born. I am talking, way longer than the births of Nonno Tony and Nonna Toni - like hundreds of years earlier. Giovanni was born in Assisi, which is like, 5 - maybe 5 and a half hours away from where my nonni were born. ANYHOW, I digress...
This man, Giovanni, was a charismatic leader of an evangelical movement, he really liked helping the poor, and he had an affinity for animals. It was actually well-known that he would preach to animals. Isn't that adorable?
If I lived in Italia in the 1100's, I would have liked to hear his sermons for sure!
I don't have enough time tonight to tell you all about Giovanni's adventures in Assisi, but what I will tell you is that this lovely man's name was changed to Francesco (the same name as my bisnonno (great grandfather's)), and was canonized a saint a mere two years after he died.
Much later, he became the patron saint of Italia, as well as the patron saint of ecology and animals. His "feast" day is October 04 (mamma's is August 15, if anyone was curious!). It is on this day we celebrate his love for all creations (poor, rich, furry, or human)!
Because St Francis of Assisi cared for all of the animals, my mamma's church has a beautiful ceremony for animals to honor his feast day. I have been to many of these blessing ceremonies, they are wonderful. This year, the church held the celebration on October 07, and this is the first year I went without my big brother. ☹
The weather was cloudy and kind of muggy. There were lots of dogs there this year, and mamma kept me in my cage-house. I felt safe, but still a little leery. I was one of three cats - the best looking, mind you. There was an older female, blind, pretty tortoise shell, being held lovingly by her mother. There was a gorgeous tiger striped boy cat, big, inside a duffle bag carrier. We three quietly listened to Father Richard say many beautiful prayers over all of us animals. The dogs were mostly restless, they barked, smelled one another - essentially, dogs - a very noisy bunch. I looked back and forth to my feline companions and felt such pride in our excellent behavior.
It was a very nice celebration. I found solace at church. Father Richard was very sweet to all of us and sprinkled holy water on each of our heads before saying "Bye". It was a good day.
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| The gathering for the Blessing of Animals. |
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| Me, being a good kitty. |
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| Father Richard praying over us. |
Don't forget to say a prayer for me and all of the animals (I promise I am praying for all of you!). Thank you!
Purr & Paw,
-Stivali.
