We just couldn’t leave this glorious close up for the gallery

This past Sunday morning, Bwog dragged itself out of bed without so much as a cup of Oren’s to sit on a stone floor for 2+ hours. There’s obviously only one reason why we’d do this: St. John’s annual Blessing of the Animals for the Feast of St. Francis. You may know the occasion better as that time when a camel walks into a cathedral. (All the animals came from either Dawn Animal Agencies or Green Chimneys, both of which organizations rescue and foster animals of all kinds.)

Contrary to popular belief, exotic and farm animals weren’t the only attractions at St. John: there was a very, very thorough program for the morning, including dance performances, choral pieces, and musical numbers featuring recorded elephants, seals, humpback whales, and other animals that probably can’t make it down a cathedral nave. The Feast was a full Mass, which meant that before the animals arrived there was a sermon, the Communion was offered, and various readings took place. All throughout, the dozens of dogs that had been brought by their owners to be blessed were barking away, extraordinarily entertained by the whole situation. At least ten new canine friendships occurred before Bwog’s eyes, and one dog got a bit too excited and peed on the floor. Ahhh, pets. Between the dogs and the young children, it was somewhat chaotic.

A brief list of overseens/overheards:

• A dog in a gloriously stupid wreath
• Music that sounded suspiciously like the Lion King — perhaps catering to the theme?
• International relations and Jeremy Bentham mentioned during the sermon; or, proof that CC *is* useful in the real world
• The tortoise getting wheeled down the nave
• Interpretive dancing on boxes and joyous flag waving
• That freaking adorable llama that just didn’t wanna go down the nave and got stage fright and just sat down in the middle of the aisle and they couldn’t get it to move for like a minute and it slowed down the whole procession and it was just so. damn. adorable.

And now, for the animals. A monkey was promised according to the program, but neither Bwog nor its comrades spotted one. We got a few equally cute creatures below, though.

Photo credits go to Angel Jiang, Sahil Ansari, and Daniel Campo, a.k.a. Bwog’s official Animal Planet correspondents.