I actually believe that God will probably have some animals in Heaven, and might even raise back to life some of the animals that human beings were close to in life.  There's certainly nothing preventing Him for doing so anyway.  God created animals in the first place because they represented some aspect of the perfection of His creation, and so the reconstituted earth presumably would not be lacking whatever prefection of creation they represented

Yes, I think some saints have postulated (I could be wrong; it's been a long time) that at the end of time, after the General Judgement, that God will "renew the earth" (which is referenced in the Apocalypse) and the entire planet will be like the Garden of Eden.  Thus, those that are saved will have the ability to visit all of earth's wonders and the animals there will be docile, friendly and loving. 


Imagine the story of the Cure of Ars, where he denied himself even the simple pleasure of looking upon the new technology of the railroad.  Or imagine some cloistered nun in France, who never got to see the Eiffel Tower (due to her penance of joining the monastery).  Wouldn't God make it possible for such saints to experience such worldly pleasures in eternity, after they gave up such for the Glory of God?  Surely, God would make such possible.

Even the idea of visiting a certain period in time...i.e. to see how the pyramids were built, to see the famous battles of christianity, to see Charlemagne crowned king...such matters are human concerns, but they do provide some human pleasure, and how would God, the author of Time itself, not provide that to those that are faithful to Him?

And, in a far lesser miracle, I think God would make it possible for those animal lovers to see their 'long lost pets' or even to make friends with 'new pets' on the new, renewed earth.  Eternity is a LONG time.  And God would reward sensible creatures (i.e. humanity) with such sensible pleasures, in addition to heaven's spiritual heights.

God raised animals back to life through St. Francis of Assisi ... so there's that precedent.

The Lord be praised!  I had not heard this.  Thank you.

[St. Francis of Paola] is also reported to be compassionate towards animals and would occasionally give back life to animals that would have been killed to be eaten. He at one point raised his pet lamb from the dead after it was killed for consumption. What is more fascinating is that the lamb had been eaten already and he just went to the fire furnace where the fleece and bones had been thrown and he called the pet’s name. The lamb then came out of the fire untouched.

At one point one of the friars got a fish from the pond and had already prepared it and was now in the frying pan when St Francis noticed that it was missing. He sent someone to go and get the fish and the friar threw the fish on the ground breaking it into pieces. St Francis took the pieces and threw them into the water, prayed and the fish was restored back to life.

Even after the death of animals, he continued to call them by their names as he believed that they continued to exist even after their death.

Thank you!  Great stories.

Well I know one bird that certainly is in heaven, a white dove.

Fathers and theologians say that the order in the animal kingdom also broke down with Original Sin.

But, yeah, lots of dogs will eat not only their own feces but also the feces of other animals.

Thanks Ladislaus, I do remember reading that but got lost in the cavern of my mind. God allows abnormal things to exist, but He never wants the abnormal to be dominant. Jews strike me as the alpha and omega of abnormalness.

I'm not convinced that the animal soul is material.  Immaterial doesn't necessarily mean immortal.

St. Thomas is clear on the point. 

Can you give an example of some real being that is both immaterial and mortal? 

I thought it was incontrovertibly certain that there are only three categories of immaterial being: God: Angels: Man:

Is there a fourth category of which I am unaware? 

Material being is composite, not simple. Yet it is by no means perfectly comprehensible by the unaided human intellect. The ultimate knowledge of the material composition of real beings has eluded man from the beginning. True science exists to reduce some of what is mysterious to certain knowledge; but all of us who are aware of the fraud we call scientism, understand that man has not even skimmed the surface of the possible knowledge of the realities of nature.

Aware we are, also, that demons often deceive men, by giving them "secrets of nature," that are no such thing. Demons teach men how to poison things, certainly. But they do not teach wisdom, either speculative or empirical. By this late hour, the so-called field of speculative physics is no more than a stagnant mire of perverse human illusions. 

Light is material. Electromagnetic waves are material. The aether is material. The complexities of material composition far exceed any ability we have to apprehend essences. God is the Author of material being. A poor show He would make of His majesty, if we could easily penetrate the secrets of His creative power. 

Animals are magnificent and wonderful creatures; and their being entirely material does not take away from that.  

I wonder often if the Lord will remake him for me in eternity. I feel almost certain that when He says He is going to make all things new, He is going to include beautiful plants and animals. For in Heaven we will still possess our material/rational nature; and that nature will still be ordered to all of its proper objects.

In Heaven, perhaps, we shall contemplate not only the Essence of God, but all the mysterious of His glorious creation. 

Hello, Simeon. 

Is not Isaias 11:6-10 a glimpse into Heaven on earth being manifested by animals along with saved people, after Our Lord returns, destroys His enemies and Antichrist, and judges the living and the dead? Why wouldn't animals be in Heaven now? Why would God allow any of His creation to go to waste for eternity except souls who willfully separate themselves from Him?  

Imagine the story of the Cure of Ars, where he denied himself even the simple pleasure of looking upon the new technology of the railroad.  Or imagine some cloistered nun in France, who never got to see the Eiffel Tower (due to her penance of joining the monastery).  Wouldn't God make it possible for such saints to experience such worldly pleasures in eternity, after they gave up such for the Glory of God?  Surely, God would make such possible.

Even the idea of visiting a certain period in time...i.e. to see how the pyramids were built, to see the famous battles of christianity, to see Charlemagne crowned king...such matters are human concerns, but they do provide some human pleasure, and how would God, the author of Time itself, not provide that to those that are faithful to Him

In eternity I don't think we're going to be interested in anything that man constructed or did in time and don't think any of it will have survived.
I do hope three of my dogs will make it though.