A blessed day for animals

Bless their little hearts.

To commemorate St. Francis of Assisi Day, St. Catherine of Siena Parish School in Laguna Beach held its annual Blessing of the Animals on Saturday, welcoming about 25 four-legged companions, including dogs, a cat and three hamsters.

The pets were invited to receive a blessing from Rev. Ken Schmit, pastor at St. Catherine of Siena Parish.

It is customary for Catholic and Anglican churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals in remembrance of St. Francis of Assisi’s love of all creatures.

“We are in church so the only one who barks is the priest,” Schmit said in fun before the animals and their owners gathered on a grassy field on the school’s campus.

He made the sign of the cross, read from the book of Genesis and then walked up to the animals and said a special prayer to each while sprinkling holy water on them.

Within 20 minutes, the breeds were blessed.

Saffron, a 20-year-old deaf and blind toy poodle, has been blessed in Assisi, Italy, France and St. Peter’s Basilica, within Vatican City.

A pair of Irish Setter brothers who just turned 1 barked through the ceremony, and a Siamese cat hid in her cage.

Phoenix Lambie, a second-grader at St. Catherine of Siena Parish School, brought her two hamsters and dog to be blessed.

“I wanted to have them blessed because they’re new to our family, and we wanted to see what hamsters did when they got blessed,” the 9-year-old said.

Her classmate Bella Ireland, 9, also brought her hamster.

“It’s a tradition at our school to have our animals blessed,” she said. “Hamsters don’t live very long and I want her to live a long life.”