The World’s Largest St. Francis Day Blessing of the Animals
“A Celebration of Creation” DVD takes you into the world’s largest cathedral where you will be surronded by over one thousand animals - dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, lizards and horses. This is the annual St. Francis Day Blessing of the Animals at New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
Thousands of people with their beloved pets come from all across the USA and Canada and as far away as France. The demand to attend is so great that they start lining up as early as 6 am to see that they will get in. This is the world’s largest animal blessing .
This magnificant day is highlighted by the official Procession of AnimalsDozens of creatures including llamas, horses, snakes, pigs, turtles, eagles, insects and even a camel are all part of the Procession . They march along the two-football fields long isle to the altar where they are blessed by several bishops. After this official blessing, the populace’s pets – dogs, cats, hamsters, snakes, monkeys and fish are individually blessed.
“A Celebration of Creation” DVD captures the beauty and pageantry of this extraordinary St. Francis Pet Blessing and tells the often touching stories of several of the human and animal participants. You’ll visit Green Chimneys, the celebrated therapeutic farm-school for severely emotionally, physically and behaviorally challenged children. Each year two are chosen to train a cow and a miniature horse for the chance to be part of The Procession of Animals.
You will meet the Turtle Lady who has saved the lives of hundreds of turtles and tortoises and rehabilitated them right in her Manhattan apartment! And there is Cornelius the Pot Bellied Pig who shoots hoops and plays drums. He is a regular at the Blessing of the Animals.
The film takes you to The Raptor Project in the Catskill Mountains. Here, world famous Master Falconer Jonathan Wood rehabilitates and trains birds of prey including golden eagles, bald eagles, owls, falcons and hawks, one of which will be chosen to lead the Procession of Animals.
“A Celebration of Creation” features the Grammy Award winning Paul Winter Consort performing the beautiful music of The Missa Gaia or Earth Mass. This music incorporates the voices of whales and wolves and was especially composed to accompany the Blessing of Animals.
In order to draw attention to the plight of the Earth’s environment, the Cathedral chose the Feast of Saint Francis, the patron saint of animals and ecology, as an appropriate occasion to celebrate the environment and the animals of our planet.
