BIDDEFORD — There’s no question residents of Biddeford love their pets and will do almost anything to ensure their animal companions are happy and healthy. But some also sought a spiritual advantage early Thursday morning by bringing their beloved four-legged friends to the annual Blessing of the Animals ceremony at St. James School.

Rev. Dominic Tumusiime of Good Shepherd Parish sprinkled holy water on an array of dogs, cats, birds and even a hamster, as owners patiently waited in line for some divine intervention from the creator of all things great and small.  The event is traditionally held on Oct. 4 to coincide with the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and someone who had an extraordinary love for animals.

St. James School eighth-grader Marielle Rue, brought her 4-month old puppy Baxter to the ceremony so he could socialize with other pets there and to receive the blessing.

“He’s a Golden Retriever and Lab mix and we wanted him to meet some new friends,” Rue said. “But truly the best part of this morning is having Baxter receive the blessing.”

Tumusiime told participants that in the Scriptures, the act of blessing has come to mean “the imparting of power or life” and he said that the act of blessing is much more than an expression of goodwill and care.

He said that a blessing is really imparting a desire for an animal to be healthy, healed and to enjoy a long life in relation to humans as granted by God.

“Therefore, the more respect we pay to them, the more respect we pay to God,” Tumusiime said.

Second-grader Katie Labrie wasn’t able to bring her blue and red beta fish she calls “Jay” to the blessing ceremony, so she improvised and had the priest bless a picture she had drawn of him with crayons.

“I thought it would be cool to bring Jay to be blessed, but it was too hard to get him here and he hasn’t been baptized yet,” she said. “So I drew a picture of him instead.”

Some other participants in the animal blessing ceremony held up cell phone photos of their living and deceased pets for the priest to bless with holy water.

Mandy Greene accompanied her two daughters, Lily, a first-grader, and Isla, a pre-kindergarten student, to the ceremony and helped them bring their new Yellow Lab puppy Jaxi for a blessing from the priest.

“We’ve only had Jaxi for two weeks and the girls are really excited to do this,” she said.

Tumusiime recalled that as a young student growing up in Africa, he owned a dog and it broke his heart when it died.

“Today is my first time to bless pets and animals and the Blessing of the Animals remembers the love of St. Francis for all creatures by invoking God’s blessing on the animals and thanking God for letting us share the earth,” he said. “The blessing also recognizes the important place that pets hold in people’s hearts.”

— Executive Editor Ed Pierce can be reached at 282-1535 or by email at [email protected]