Photos: Spanish pets blessed by priests in annual ritual

Madrid: Hundreds of Spanish pet owners took their animals to church where Catholic priests blessed them on the Day of St Anthony the Abbott, the patron saint of animals.

A few dogs barked, but most animals waited patiently to be sprinkled with holy water on the steps of the baroque St Anthony's Church in central Madrid.

Priest Angel Garcia then said Mass in front of dozens of pets inside, also to some barking from the pews. Carlos Cabestany, 51, brought his greyhound, Rita. "It is a Madrid tradition and we like to keep it alive," he said.

Priest Antonio Dominguez blesses birds at San Antonio Abad Church.

A dog named Capirote, 4, reacts upon being blessed in the neighborhood of Churriana, in Malaga, Spain.

A kitten and turtles are seen after they were blessed with holy water.

Dogs named Capirote, 4, and Soul, 1, play before they are blessed with holy water.

Priest Antonio and a woman react after he blessed her dog with flowers soaked with holy water.

A priest blesses dogs during the 'Beneides' (Benedictions in Majorcan language) traditional ceremony of blessing animals that marks the day of San Anton (Saint Anthony), the animals' patron saint, in Muro, on the Spanish Balearic island of Majorca.

A priest blesses a horse.

A priest blesses a cat.

A priest blesses a dog.

A priest blesses a flock of sheep.

A priest blesses a gaggle of geese.