11 saints who had pets or were friends with animals

Throughout history, many saints have been remembered not only for their delivery to God and others, but also for the special relationship they had with animals. Obedient crows, wolves that became meek or birds that accompanied them, are part of stories that reflect the harmony between holiness and creation.

Here we tell you about some:

1. San Francisco de Asís

According to traditionin the Italian city of Gubbio in the province of Perugia, there was a wolf that frightened the population. Faced with this, San Francisco wanted to help and went to the place where the beast was.

When the wolf threw himself against the friar, the saint made the sign of the cross. Immediately, the beast calmed down and supported its head in the hands of the friar. Then he offered a deal: if he promised not to attack people or animals again, the inhabitants would feed him and never go hungry again. The wolf accepted the pact.

It is said that the animal lived two years. When he died as an old man, all the town cried.

In the place where this meeting occurred, the church of San Francesco della PacE, where a sarcophagus is preserved that, according to tradition, belonged to the wolf.

2. San Antonio Abad

San Antonio Abad is also invoked as an animal employer. One of the stories that support him that two lions appeared along with other animals that helped him dig the pit where the Holy one buried St. Paul Eritoño.

The second tradition says that a wild boar lived near his hermitage and had blind young. Moved by compassion, San Antonio cured them, and since then the mother followed him as a faithful Guardian, without ever separating from him.

3. San Pío de Pietrelcina

San Pío de Pietrelcina is also remembered for a singular fact with animals. According to Fr. Jean Marie Benjamin to ACI StampaItalian agency of the ACI group, the image of the friar hit him so much that he decided to travel to San Giovanni Rotondo to meet him.

There he attended one of his masses at dawn. Remember that the saint was hunched over the pain of stigmas, in a wheelchair, and even so all the faithful contemplated him with great emotion.

When the time came for the consecration, he described that he lived something that “it was impossible to describe. There are no words or expressions to say exactly what was happening”, because also the birds who were in the temple windows were silent, as if they participated in the mystery.

4. San Serafín De Sarov

It was a great Russian ascetic that spent long years in solitude in the forests, delivered to prayer and penance. He often fed wild animals that came to him.

The Orthodox Church website in America He says that among those animals a bear highlighted, that he turned his partner and obeyed him docily. The saint fed him with bread and, according to tradition, even made orders.

Those who visited him were amazed to see the fierce animal turned into a meek servant of the man of God.

5. Don Bosco

In the Memories of the Oratory of San Francisco de Salesan autobiography of San Juan Bosco, story The mysterious company of a great dog that he called “gray”, an animal that was always friendly and accompanied him several times during his journeys.

He says that on several occasions the “gray” protected him from real dangers. Once, when two men tried to assault and gag him on a lonely road, the dog suddenly arose, he threw himself against the attackers and managed to scare them away, remaining next to him until he put it safe.

Don Bosco always considered it as “a providential presence in many of the dangerous situations in which I found myself.”

6. San Francisco Javier

The tradition tells that, in 1546, San Francisco Javier was traveling to Indonesia when, during the journey, a storm caused the crucifix to be hung around the neck.

Upon arriving on the island, after walking the beach, a crab left the Mar holding the crucifix with its tweezers and took it until San Francisco Javier took it. The saint knelt and thanked God for this miracle.

According to the Pontifical Mission Works Website of Spainthis crucifix remained with San Francisco Javier during his missionary work and, after his death, he toured several places in Europe until he reached Spain, where he is currently preserved. He added the figure of a bronze crab, remembering the miraculous episode.

7. San Gerásimo

San Gerásimo was a hermit who traveled to the Holy Land to dedicate his life to prayer and loneliness.

According to the book Lives of the SaintsWhile he was on the banks of the Jordan River he saw a lion holding with a spine embedded in the leg. San Gerásimo was extracted and cured; After being healed by the saint, the animal became its loyal and inseparable companion, helping him with the tasks of the monastery.

The Research Website on Los Santos Saints and blessed It indicates that the lion remained with San Gerásimo for about five years and, when the saint died, the animal was so distressed that he collapsed dead on his grave.

Likewise, it is pointed out that, surely due to the similarity of their names, the Episode of the Lion has also been attributed to San Jerónimo.

8. San Eutiquio

San Eustaquio, originally called Placido, was a Roman general very fond of hunting. According to the book of the Saints’ Lifewhile pursuing a deer in the mountains between Tivoli and Palestrina, he saw in the horns of the animal the figure of Jesus Christ on the cross and heard a voice that called him by name. This prodigious vision instantly made Christianity.

In the Basilica of San Eustaquio in Rome (Italy), the facade is crowned by a deer head that remembers the vision that transformed his life.

9. San Benito

San Gregorio Magno He recounts in his Dialogues A story about San Benito, who used to feed a crow that went down every day of the jungle to receive bread from his hands.

On one occasion, an enemy tried to kill the saint by sending him an poisoned bread. Benito, when discovering the danger, threw the bread into the crow and ordered him to take it away, to a place where no one could find it.

The bird doubted, grazn and fluttered, but finally obeyed: he took the bread with his beak, hid it and later returned, as always, to receive his usual ration.

10. San Roque

San Roque dedicated his life to attend to the pest’s patients in Italy and France, healing many with the sign of the cross. When he spread he withdrew to a cave so as not to be a burden, where a dog took him daily bread and licked the sores, until the owner of the animal discovered him and took care of him.

After recovering, he helped the sick again, but was unfairly imprisoned and died in prison. His grave became instead of miracles and was soon invoked throughout Europe as a patron against the plague, always represented with his faithful dog.

11. San Martín de Porres

San Martín de Porres CHe ondue the animals as creatures of God and acted with tenderness even before the little ones: he supported the mosquito bites patiently, stating that they also had the right to feed themselves, and on another occasion he spoke with some mice to leave the pantry of the convent, sending them peacefully to the garden.

Among his best known stories is that in which he made a dog, a cat and a mouse live together so they could share the same dish in harmony.

This article was published on October 4, 2022. It has been updated for republication.