October 4 was designated World Animal Day because it coincides with the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, who has been proclaimed by the Catholic Church as the patron saint of animals and nature. It was first celebrated in 1931 at a conference of environmentalists in Florence, as a way of raising public and scientific awareness of endangered animals. Since then, the feast day has expanded to include all species of the animal kingdom.
ANIMALS
![The HMHS Britannic, the White Star Line’s sister ship of the Titanic, was operating as a hospital vessel when she hit a mine and went down off the coast of Kea in 1916. [Armando Ribeiro]](assets/modules/wnp/articles/202207/11087/images/s_hms_britannic_wreck_kea.jpg)
