I asked my mum

Why’d you pick Saint Jude

As my baptismal name?

He’s the patron saint

Of hopeless cases, she said.

What the hell?

I don’t think you are hopeless

And she laughed the way she laughed

I just think people in our family,

We need this kind of saint…

Or put another way by my heart

As she listened to the story –

I think your mum wanted you to know

There’s always good no matter what.

At confirmation I picked Saint Francis

But not any old Francis, Mr. Assisi himself

Because anyone who loves animals

Is king in my books…

That’s when I became

Peter James Jude Francis Cantelon

Believer in hope, lover of animals.