On Oct. 4, people around the world celebrated the feast of St. Francis of Assisi.

St. Francis of Assisi is best known as the patron saint of animals. He was born in Italy in 1181 to rich parents. As a young man, he drank and squandered money. After a serious illness, he threw away all his possessions. He then lived like a pauper, preaching from town to town.

One day, he preached to a flock of birds, telling them to listen to God. The entire flock allowed St. Francis to bless each of them on the head.

His gentle demeanor attracted all kinds of animals.

One the most famous stories about St. Francis is about how he tamed a wolf that was terrorizing a village. The wolf was eating livestock, making the village folk very angry. St. Francis made the wolf pledge not to eat the livestock, and the people agreed to feed the wolf. The wolf lived happily among the townsfolk for two years before it died.

Two weeks ago, I took Zoe to the "Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi: Blessing of the Animals" at St. Andrew's Cathedral.

In addition to the service, there were several animal non-profit organizations present: The Humane Society of the United States, Cat Friends and the Hawaii Dog Foundation came to help raise awareness of animal overpopulation and animal cruelty issues.

It was a meaningful service where we sang and prayed for all animals on this earth. Even the pets seemed to know that they should be on their best behavior in the house of God.

Thank you, Lord, for making all animals!

Animal lover Leslie Kawamoto has been with the Advertiser for 18 years, or 126 in dog years. Check out her blog at www.HonoluluAdvertiser.com/Blogs