Why do churches bless pets?
Every October many churches—especially Roman Catholic parishes—host a ceremony for blessing pets. The event is usually held on or about October 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, a patron saint of animals and ecology. Francis, who lived during the late 12th and early 13th centuries, considered all nature to be the mirror of God and called all creatures his “brothers” and “sisters.” He famously preached to the birds and persuaded a wolf to stop attacking the people and livestock of Gubbio, Italy, by promising that the townspeople would feed the wolf. Pet blessings on Francis’s feast day are therefore a way to honor the humble friar.
- St. Blaise: wild animals
- St. Gertrude of Nivelles: cats
- St. Rocco: dogs
- St. Edmund: wolves
- St. Stephen: horses
- St. Brigid: cattle
Some scholars think that such blessings originated in the 3rd and 4th centuries, when farmers would seek out St. Anthony of Egypt, a hermit and monk who lived in the desert, to bless their livestock. Like Francis, Anthony is venerated as a patron saint of animals. According to legend, two lions helped him dig a hole to bury his fellow hermit, St. Paul of Thebes. After the burial the lions licked Anthony’s hands and feet, prompting the holy man to give them his blessing. In art Anthony is often depicted with a pig, which he kept for a companion. Some stories claim that the loyal pig was the mother of a litter of sick piglets that Anthony had nurtured back to health.
St. Anthony’s feast day, January 17, has long been celebrated in some countries, especially Italy, Spain, and Mexico, with a ceremonial blessing of animals. One of the most famous celebrations, the Stalla sotto il Cielo (Italian: “Stable under the Sky”), is held outside St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City and draws both pets and livestock with their human caretakers.
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Animal blessings are also performed in imitation of God, who blessed both animals and humans during their creation, according to the Bible (Genesis 1:22, 28). Further, blessing animals reflects the Christian duty to care for all of God’s creation (Genesis 2:15).
What happens at an animal blessing?
As with the ceremony in Vatican City, many churches hold their annual pet blessings outdoors, such as on the church steps, in the parking lot or garden, or at a nearby park or square. On the day of the blessing, people bring the animals in their care, typically keeping them on a leash, in a carrier, or in their arms during the ceremony. (At the Vatican City ceremony, large animals wait for their blessing in open-air stalls set up in the square.) Then a priest or other officiant sprinkles each of the animals with holy water and recites a prayer for creation. Sometimes mass is celebrated, with pets welcomed inside the church.
Churches that bless animals
Although patron saints and pet blessings are often associated with Catholic tradition, many other Christian churches host animal blessings. In 1984 the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, an Episcopal congregation in New York City, began a tradition of blessing pets on St. Francis’s feast day as part of its “Earth Mass,” a celebration of the animal kingdom that includes a procession of animals in the cathedral’s central nave. Some Lutheran and Presbyterian congregations also honor Francis’s feast day in a similar fashion, and in the Greek Orthodox Church, the feast of St. Modestos (December 16) is often marked with pet blessings.
