Animal Blessings in the Bay Area & Beyond

Published: Oct. 01, 2008
Subject: Bless the Beasts
Category: Tails of the City

Even if you thank the heavens for your pets everyday, now you can make it official. Thanks to Italy’s most famous animal lover, St. Francis of Assisi, your pets can receive an official blessing in honor of the saint’s feast day this weekend. 

Franciscan churches throughout the Bay Area, and even the St. Francis Winery in Santa Rosa welcome you and your pet to honor this special day. Join the procession of animals from hamsters to horses on your way to a greeting and prayer from a Franciscan friar.

The 19th annual blessing honoring the Feast of St. Francis at St. Boniface Church in San Francisco is the longest running Franciscan blessing of animals. Bring along your pets or even a stuffed animal for his or her blessing. Then stay to meet SFPD horses and SF/SPCA cats available for adoption.

St. Mary’s Episcopal Church is holding their annual picnic at Crissy Field. Welcome to the public, pet blessings begin at 1 pm.  Pack a picnic to share and go join the fun.

If you’ve never taken a trip up to the gorgeous St. Francis Winery, this Sunday just might be the day for it. Bring creatures great and small for their personal blessing in the winery’s mission-style visitor’s center. Afterward, have your pet’s caricature done by a local artist, enter your dog in the Winery Dog of the Year contest and enjoy wine and treats available for purchase.

Not in the Bay area, not a problem. You can find Animal Blessing events around the country at this link.

Such a beautiful celebration of the gift of animals in honor of the Saint who loved them, it’s just one more way to say thank you for the little creatures in our world.

The Scoop:

San Francisco
Saturday, October 4th  – 19th Annual Blessing of the Animals,  St. Boniface Church, 133 Golden Gate Ave., San Francisco, 12-2 p.m.
www.saintbonifacesf.org

Sunday, October 5th  – Episcopal Church of St. Mary’s Annual Picnic & Animal Blessing, Crissy Field, 12:30 p.m.
www.smvsf.org

Santa Rosa
Sunday October 5th  – Pet Blessings at St. Francis Winery, 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
www.stfranciswine.com

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites