Oct 4 is the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, commemorating the date of his death in 1226. This Oct 4 at 2:00 PM you are invited to BBUUC’s Annual Blessing of the Animals in the church, presented by Worship and conducted by life-professed Franciscan Friar Manny Andrade and BBUUC’s  Animal Chaplain Elizabeth DeCoux. In the interest of safety and order, please have all dogs on leash and all other animals properly restrained. If your animal has passed away or is unable to attend in person, please bring a picture, toy, or other memento to be blessed. You and your animals are warmly invited to this happy event.

Probably the most elaborate Blessing of the Animals occurs each year at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. Last year the animals participating in the ritual included dogs, oysters, a snake, a camel, a cow, a horse, a donkey, a tortoise (wheeled in a cart so as not to slow the processional), an alpaca, and a macaw.  Dancers from the Forces of Nature Dance Theater offered a series of performances portraying the environment. For animals who could not be present in body, recordings of their calls and growls were played: an elephant’s trumpet, a tiger’s roar, an eagle’s cry. The dogs present responded with howls. Music included a gospel choir, and Paul Halley’s composition “Ubi Caritas” (“Where Charity and Love Are, God Is There”), which is a work featuring jazz and Latin rhythms along with Gregorian and Yoruba chants. A highlight of the service was the presentation of astronomer Carl Sagan’s homily, written for the same service decades ago, in which he calls for us to protect the Earth as “the only home we have ever known.”

Although the service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine may have more extensive pageantry than ours, we warmly invite you to a service of tremendous joy, love, celebration, and blessing on October 4 at 2 p.m. We hope to see you and your animals there!