All Saints Day

Did you know that Italy is the seat of the Catholic church? The Pope lives in Rome in his very own, mini-country called "The Vatican". Because of this, Italy is a very religious country with Catholicism as its number one religion.

For that reason, there are many religious holidays in Italy. Our human is off from work for the rest of the week because of two, back to back holidays. The first one is today and it is called "All Saints Day".

Since it is All Saints Day, we wanted to share with you a couple of our most beloved Saints.

Saint Francis is the patron saint of animals. He was an Italian man who was born in a town just a couple of hours south of where were live, called Assisi. Saint Francis was a hardworking man who accomplished many things in his life and worked hard to serve his fellow man, but it was his love for animals that he is best known for. They say that he would go into the woods and preach to the animals because they were, after all, God's creatures too. There is a legend that the birds loved the sound his voice and would surround him as he spoke. And they say that on his death bed he thanked his donkey for helping him throughout his life. And the donkey wept.




Our other favorite saint is Saint Gertrude of Nivelles. We don't really know too much about her other than she was a faithful servant of God, she lead a quiet and closed off life and that she died at the young age of 33 (the same age our human is now). She hated mice and worked hard to get rid of them, maybe because they were full of disease. Because of this, you will always see painting of mice at her feet or a cat nearby. We guess that is why she the Patron Saint of cats.



So furry friends, it is nice to know that even the great Saints are keeping an eye out for all of us furry creatures!