Blessing of the Animals

The Episcopal Church celebrates the life of Francis of Assisi on October 4. October 2 is the Sunday nearest to that date, and St. Paul’s will bless animals then. People are encouraged to bring their pets to the 8:45 AM service. Animals will also be blessed after the 10:45 AM service.

I really do like this celebration, but it is sometimes hard for people to participate. It is particularly hard for choir members. Running home after the late service to retrieve my cats has, in the past, meant that I have missed most of the blessings. And of course, much of the joy of the event is seeing everyone else’s animals.

Anyway, St. Paul’s has put out a very nice banner at the corner of Washington Road and Mayfair Drive. The banner is shown below. (Click on the pictures for a larger view.)

The legend “Blessing of the Pets”is curious, as it is usual to speak of the blessing of the animals. I suspect the use of “pets” is not intended to exclude domestic animals that aren’t pets, but was used because “pets” fits on the banner better than “animals.”

The banner faces traffic going south only. The words on it probably couldn’t be read from across the street anyway. You can see where the banner has been placed in the photo below.