Blessing of animals

Did You Know?

• PETA suggests two Franciscan Animal Blessings and advises that cats should be left at home during blessings because they are terrified.
• Animal chaplaincy is typically associated with veterinary work, and veterinary chaplains perform animal blessings as part of a broader range of services.
• United Methodists have a specific liturgy for the blessing of animals that highlights creation and mutual interdependence.

Judaism

Many synagogues now hold ceremonies for blessing animals, and some suggest the practice may have originated in ancient Judaism. The Jewish ceremony is sometimes performed on the seventh day of Passover, in spring, to commemorate the Hebrews’ and their animals’ emancipation from slavery in Egypt. Other Jewish congregations schedule blessings after the High Holy Days, around the Parashat Noach, the Torah portion about Noah and the ark. For kosher meat, a ritual blessing called shechita is required for the production area. A Bark Mitzvah, a dog's coming-of-age celebration analogous to a Bar Mitzvah, has been observed since at least 1958, though it is not universally well regarded in Judaism.

Culturalisation

Some towns and cities hold animal blessings as cultural events. In San Juan del Río, the blessing occurs on January 17, the feast day of San Antonio. Unterammergau hosts the annual Leonhardritt and Blessing of the Animals, ending at the 11th-century Chapel of St Leonhard, patron saint of horses. The Blessing of the Animals at Olvera Street, an event dating from 1930, takes place every Sabado de Gloria (Holy Saturday) with vendors, performers, and a procession. Madrid has celebrated the festival largely uninterrupted since the 19th century, and it also occurs in other parts of Spain such as the Balearic Islands and Burgos. By the latter part of the 20th century, blessing animals and pets in the United States had become a mainstream cultural activity, with services in 48 states and districts in 2008.

Places blessing animals

A large number of places now bless animals, especially pets and companion animals, on an annual basis. Examples include St. Matthias, Bellwoods in Toronto, a pioneer for liturgically based autumn blessings; All Saints Episcopal Church; Beaver Lake, Mount Royal, where Canon Horace Baugh initiated blessings over 50 years ago; St Cyprian's Church, Lenzie; and Elisabethenkirche in Basel, which offers a Schöpfungsfeier service blessing the human-animal relationship. St. Francis Episcopal Church in Stamford, Connecticut, and St Bartholomew's Anglican Church at Mount Gravatt hold annual pet blessings coinciding with the Feast of St Francis of Assisi. Other sites include Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha – Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu Shinto temple, a Rabbi's backyard in Cleveland, Ohio, and the San Gabriel Mission, which performs blessings as part of its annual fiesta celebrating the mission's 1771 founding.

Historical animal blessing and prayer

The Lorscher Bienensegen, a Christian bee-keeping prayer written in Old High German and believed to date from the 9th century, asks for honey bees to return to their hives in good health; it may derive from earlier Anglo-Saxon and apparently pagan traditions. Saint Francis of Assisi is associated with the patronage of animals, and Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican churches often hold animal blessing ceremonies on his feast day of 4 October. Saint Dwynwen is known as the Welsh patron saint of sick animals, which she would bless. Legend says that in the 4th century, herds of wild animals came for the blessing of Saint Blaise. According to Islamic tradition, a cat saved Muhammad from a snake, and in gratitude Muhammad stroked the cat, blessing all cats with the righting reflex.