(Seguin) — Fur babies, feathered friends and even reptiles need a special blessing from time to time. Pet and animal owners from throughout the community are invited to attend a special Blessing of the Animals event this Saturday. St. Andrew’s Episcopal will be offering the blessings in celebration of St. Francis of Assisi, the Patron Saint of Animals.
Tracy Donley, the communication specialist for St. Andrew’s, says if you can bring it, they’ll bless it.
“This is a long standing tradition. I can remember being a kid at St. Andrew’s and coming to the Blessing of the Animals with my own pets so we’ve been doing this for a long time. We are honoring St. Francis. I believe St. Francis Day is Oct. 4, the day before the event but that’s why we hold this event the first Saturday of October because we are thinking about St. Francis who was the Patron Saint of Animals. So, we really want to encourage people to come and bring any kind of pet– any kind of pet at all — reptiles, hedge hogs, horses and we want to also encourage this year that kids bring stuffed animals if they would like to. So, we can bless a teddy bear. Bring it and we’ll bless it. That’s all there is to it,” said Donley.
Again, Donley says all animals are welcome but they do ask that they are kept on a leash, in a cage, in a trailer or in a bowl.
“We do appreciate it if you will bring your animal in a leash or a cage if it’s a hamster or a lizard or something like that. We wouldn’t want any accidents. We will have trash cans on site and of course, extra bags for picking up messes, things like that so we do ask that people bring their pet on a leash and please, bring those stuffed animals. We’d love to bless them too,” said Donley.
The event is free. Those attending, however, are encouraged to bring cat or dog food to donate to the Guadalupe County Humane Society. The Blessing of the Animals gets underway at 10 a.m.Saturday in the St. Andrew’s Prayer Garden. The prayer garden is located on South Crockett Street next to St. Andrew’s in downtown Seguin.