Every year around the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, Very Rev. Peter Lickman opened up his Northeast Miami-Dade church to all creatures — from cats and snakes to birds and ferrets.

“Each animal is precious in God’s sight and has an animal soul,” Lickman told the Miami Herald after a service in 2003 where he blessed each animal with holy water. “We are here to pray for their longevity and for their good health.”

Lickman, the pastor of St. Basil Byzantine Catholic Church for more than four decades, died Tuesday after a brief illness. He was 70.

“He cared a great deal about all living things,” said Sharon Sbrissa, the president of the Ives Estates Neighborhood Association. “I feel privileged that he was a part of my life.”

Born April 20, 1943, in New Philadelphia, Pa., Lickman was the youngest of four children. He graduated from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and continued his theological studies at SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Michigan. He then went to John the XXLIII Center at Fordham University in New York for additional religious education.