Dog Bless: St Paul’s hosts Blessing of the Animals Ceremony
Regan Kelly
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Jim Curran and his dog Misty.Image 2 of 5
Púca the Border Collie being blessed by Fr Barry White.Image 3 of 5
Una Moynihan, Daragh Nulty and Genevieve Melia with their dogs.Image 4 of 5
Darko, Vanesa and Vito Markovic with their kitten.Image 5 of 5
The crowds gathering in St Paul’s car park to have their pets blessed.During a break in the storm, Mullingar residents took their pets to St Paul’s Church for a first-ever Blessing of the Animals ceremony.
As Storm Amy battered the country, the wind and rain eased on Sunday, allowing visitors and their pets to receive a blessing from three members of the clergy at Mullingar Parish – Fr Phil Gaffney, Fr Andrei Stolnicu, and Fr Barry White.
In a brief speech beforehand, Fr Gaffney said: “Today is the feast of St Francis of Assisi, and we bless all of God’s beautiful creatures.”
Although the car park was mostly full of dogs, there were also cats present, and even hamsters.
Nervous pets were facilitated too, and were able to receive private blessings; for that, visitors were give tickets to display on their cars for the priests to see.
The weather allowed for most, if not all, pets who visited to be blessed, but just as it finished, the wind and rain came back, and despite the weather, there wasn’t a face there that wasn’t smiling.