A camel, an owl, snakes, an alligator, ponies, ostriches, geese, rabbits, but also dogs and cats were blessed this Sunday in the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York, on the occasion of Saint Francis of Helpen.
The two-hour ceremony was led by the Bishop of the Diocese of New York, Andrew Dietsche.
The ceremony, celebrated on the first day of October, was special this year after being suspended since 2018 due to a fire in the church and then the Covid-19 pandemic.
The black Labrador of Jon Shweky, a Jew, and Christine Cookman, a Catholic, was among the animals to receive the blessing. From November he will become a guide dog. “We wanted him to receive the blessing of good health and happiness, in the hope that he would become a guide for the blind and partially sighted,” Cookman told AFP.
Kirstin Portecella, 62, accompanied by her mother, Dagmar, and her dog, Sadie, was happy to visit the cathedral again with her new pet, as it is the only day of the year that animals are allowed into the church. “They are part of our unconditional love,” he explains.
With room for 1,500 people, the neo-Gothic cathedral was virtually full, with each person paying $15 to enter the space on the city’s west side.
The animals, mainly dogs, waited patiently for the ceremony, which featured performances by the cathedral choir and an Afro dance, interrupted only by sporadic barking, although many were excited when the camel arrived. One of them even urinated on a column in the temple, whose dome was designed by Spanish architect Rafael Guastavino.
The animals, brought by volunteers, waited in cages and stalls outside the cathedral until it was their turn to receive the bishop’s blessing one by one.
Source: DN
