Blessing of the Animals held Saturday

Pet owners lined up for the annual Blessing of the Animals on Saturday on Olvera Street. 

The event, presided over by Archbishop José H. Gomez, was hosted at Placita Olvera starting at 2 p.m. 

Priests blessed the animals to promote their good health, honoring a tradition dating back to the 1930s on Olvera Street, when cows, horses and goats were blessed on Olvera Street. 

The tradition, which truly began in the 4th Century when San Antonio De Abad was named patron saint of the animal kingdom, expanded to household domestic pets in the following years to where it is today.