TULSA, Okla. — Hundreds of pets were blessed at different churches across Green Country as per tradition of the Feast Day of St. Francis.
Every October churches across the United States bless their pets in honor of St. Francis. Around a dozen pets were blessed by Reverend Chris Cole in the St. Dunstan Episcopal Church garden.
“Every year we celebrate the feast day for St. Francis and it always comes on the same day of the year,” said It’s always on October 4 and since today is October 5 and we’re all going to be together for services, we always try to get community to come back in the afternoon so we can do a pet blessing as a way of honoring him.”
St. Francis is the patron saint of nature, ecology, and animals. This is a yearly occurrence for various church denominations.
“This is something that the Episcopal church has been doing for years, and it’s become very, very popular throughout the country and so Episcopal churches, no matter where you are living, will typically offer a blessing of the pets in order to celebrate St. Francis’ feast day,” said Rev. Cole.
While there were only dogs at this particular blessing, all pets are welcome to be blessed.
“They could bring a dog, they could bring a cat, they could bring a lizard, a ferret, a bird — you name it. We would bless anything,” said Rev. Cole.
Reverend Cole said he blessed around 12 to 15 dogs in their garden today.
