Faith

Every year, in the run up to the feast day of St Francis, churches around Wiltshire gear up for a service with a difference…. the annual Animal Blessing Service.

In a scene straight out of the Vicar of Dibley, in the first weekend in October, all creatures great and small will head to church to be blessed.

At the small but beautifully formed Church of St Peter's in Blackland, near Calne, it's been an annual event since 1999:

"We get all the ponies, a large snail, insects, fish and birds … all sorts of weird animals,” says Lucette Rees the church warden of St. Mary's.

"And the donkey, Francis, is always there."

Held in the stable yard of Blackland House, next to the tiny church of St. Mary's, the special service of hymns and bible readings is kept short and sweet to accommodate for the short attention span of its animal congregation:

"I take all my ponies, 15 in total, to be blessed.  The vicar brings his finches and then we get hamsters, hens, rabbits, guinea pigs, a tortoise and of course dogs.

"The most outrageous we've had was a giant African land snail that came along two years in a row."

Despite, as Lucette puts it, a service where "everybody's barking" the congregation are better behaved then you'd expect:

"They seem to rise to the occasion,” says Lucette. "They somehow know and there's no fighting."

St Peters Church - Animal Blessing Service
Blackland, Calne
Sunday 5th October, 2008, 3:00 pm

Meanwhile at the Catholic Church of St Gregory, in Salisbury, all animals and denominations are being welcomed for the church's very first Animal Blessing Service:

"It's the first year we've done it," says Jennifer Pothecary, "and we've no idea how many or what animals will be coming.

Unlike the service at Blacklands, St Gregory's service is due to be held inside the Roman Catholic church but Mrs Pothecary is ready for anything:

"We've put out an appeal for plenty of stewards and we've got lots of pooper scoopers and buckets ready.

"We're also thinking of sitting dogs on one side of the church and cats etc on the other."

With the congregation kept somewhat apart it's hoped that the animals, as part of the 45 minute service, will be able to head up the aisle in a a fairly orderly fashion for their blessing.

Catholic Church of St Gregory - Animal Blessing ServiceSt Gregory’s Ave, Salisbury
Saturday 4th October, 2008, 3:30 pm

At the ancient church of St. Johns, in West Grimstead, church-going animals will have to wait until the beginning of May for their blessing.

It's only in the run up to Rogationtide that the rather handily stone floored church hosts its Animal Blessing service:

"All in all, though, the pet service shows us that we're not the only creatures on this planet.  Most of our problems today are because we think we are."

St John's Church - Animal Blessing Service
West Grimstead
Second Sunday in May