SPCA PV Blessing of the Animals SPCA PV
January 16, 2012

SPCA PV invites you to attend the Feast Day of Saint Anthony event where you can bring your household pets to be blessed by Father Tony Clark.

Admission is free and open to the public and will take place on Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 12:00 noon, at Puerta del Cielo (Chapel of Hacienda San Angel), Miramar 363, El Cerro, Puerto Vallarta.

St. Anthony Abbott, much venerated throughout Italy, is a hermit-saint who died in the deserts of Egypt on January 17th in the fourth century (not to be confused with St. Anthony of Padua, a Franciscan saint of the thirteenth century).

Legend has it that during his period of prayer and fasting in the desert his only companions were the animals.

Occasionally, the local people brought him bread. An integral part of St. Anthony's feast day, even today, is the blessing of the animals followed by the receiving of the pane benedetto (blessed bread).

Like most feast days in Italy, the Feast of St. Anthony is intertwined with the ancient Roman world. The long period between the winter solstice and summer equinox was replete with festivities and rites of purification of the animals, the fields, the people – propitious offerings for fertility and regeneration of the cosmos.

Today, under the veil of religious feast days, local customs are tied to those ancient rites of fecundity and regeneration.

The blessing of domestic animals on the Feast Day of Saint Anthony was considered auspicious, keeping away evil forces from the home and land, bringing fertility and fecundity.

The mission of SPCA de PV is to help fund and promote sterilizatiom, adoption and healthcare efforts for companion animals in the Puerto Vallarta area, with the goal of eliminating the euthanasia of healthy and adoptable animals.  Monies raised will support these various goals in ways that are most feasible within the community.

  Learn about SPCA Puerto Vallarta