Custom is marked in Vatican and throughout Italy.
Italian farmers have fun the feast day of St Anthony Abbot or Antonio Abate, the patron saint and protector of animals, on Wednesday 17 January 2024.
The occasion is marked in Rome with an open-air steady arrange by the Italian Affiliation of Livestock Farmers (AIA) at Piazza Pio XII in entrance of St Peter’s Sq. in Vatican Metropolis.
This conventional meeting of horses, cows, sheep, goats, rabbits and hens is open to all and is scheduled to happen from 09.00 till about 14.00.
The Archpriest of St Peter’s, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, will have fun a Mass for the farmers and their households within the basilica at 11.00.
This is historically adopted by a procession led by police on horseback, alongside By way of della Conciliazione, after which Cardinal Gambetti imparts a blessing on all animals current.
St Anthony Abbot
Along with animals and farmers, St Anthony Abbot is the patron saint of basket weavers and grave diggers, and is believed to guard towards pores and skin illnesses, particularly shingles.
The saint, who died in Egypt in 356, has all the time loved a widespread following amongst Italy’s agricultural communities.
Based on an historic legend from the Veneto area in northern Italy, on the evening of 17 January animals acquired the power to talk.
On this evening annually, it’s stated that folks had been evaded stables as a result of to listen to the animals speak was thought of a nasty omen.
For full particulars of the Rome occasion on 17 January see the AIA web site.
