The Blessing

 

The weather on Sunday morning was divine at the unfinished Episcopal Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, for the Blessing of the Animals on the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. Flowers still bloomed in the gardens at 110 St. and Amsterdam Ave. and the massive crowd had gathered a full hour and a half before the ceremony honoring Saint Francis of Assisi and his love of animals was to commence. A lengthy line of attendees, four abreast, wound down Amsterdam Avenue and around the curving corner, a feel of Fall was in the air despite the surprising summer temperatures. Most of the crowd had brought their pet friends. There were parrots and guinea pigs, turtles, geckos and iguanas and cats of every description. Beautiful cats prowled and purred on their family's shoulders or cuddled in their embrace, but the largest population represented was an inundation of dogs. They were huge furry dogs to tiny hairless dogs of every size shape color and description. I witnessed a black Chihuahua riding on the back of a huge brown Bull Mastiff, smaller than his breakfast had been, barking out commands. I named him Napoleon. Most of the animals were well behaved calmly waiting for their blessing. Although the crowd was large there were no fights as all waited patiently for the ceremony to begin on best behavior. One car pulled up in the bus stop parking illegally and the owner a white-haired woman jumped out with her dog tucked under her arm like a football player and plunged into the crowd cutting through the line. It would not be a New York City line without someone who felt that they had the right to jump ahead of their fellow New Yorkers. Shortly after a limousine pulled up and the chauffeur got out and opened the rear door for a glamorously dressed woman sporting a large floppy hat and sunglasses with her manicured poodle who also dissolved into the crowd ahead of her rightful place.

Tourists from the Midwest were fascinated at the excitement over farm animals shown by the city slickers and said so in no uncertain terms. One man in a cowboy hat said “Will you look at all the fuss these city slickers are making over farm animals!” as a horse and a donkey along with two goats a sheep an owl, a raptor and a snake were paraded through the doors of the Cathedral.Next came a large cow and a tortoise who was pushed in on a mail cart. The hare arrived late having overslept. Of course, an usher followed with a rolling wagon holding a shovel and broom in case of any unfortunate mishaps.

The large exotic wild animals did not attend although many had attended the event in past decades, this was no Noah's ark! The elephants claimed to have gotten stuck on the crosstown bus. The hippopotamus had a previous engagement wallowing in Central Park Lake. The giraffe had found a delicious tree and refused to walk away

from it until he had finished every luscious leaf in spite of the fact that he was one-hundred feet away from the Cathedral entrance, while the alligators awoke very grumpy that morning and decided to skip the entire event calling in sick claiming to have overeaten white rats the night before. It was a very pleasant true New York City experience and one that I was glad to have experienced, and I checked it off my New York City Event Bucket List.

Jim-Oct 2025