Q: What is a Pet Blessing? What is a Patronal Feast?
A: St. Francis of Assisi is the protector of animals and patron saint of creation and many Episcopal parishes celebrate by blessing the pets in our lives on his feast day. Well-behaved, leashed or contained pets are welcome in worship here at St. Francis’ on the day of our St. Francis’ Feast Day Celebration, Sunday, October 6. After each mass, we will bless pets. Stay after the 10:30am worship for a BBQ and root beer floats from 11:30am to 12:30pm!
While many parishes in the Episcopal Church celebrate St. Francis with a blessing of the animals, we have a special reason to: our congregation is named for St. Francis of Assisi, so this is our parish’s patronal feast day!
Feasts are days of celebration, including all Sundays, Easter, Pentecost, Christmas, Epiphany All Saints’ Day and the days commemorating individual saints. The feasts commemorating individual saints are optional celebrations for churches, and churches with a patron—a saint after whom the parish is named—will often identify their saint’s feast day as a special day for the life of their parish. In celebrating an optional feast day, churches may elect to do so on the calendar date as assigned by the Episcopal Church or on the nearest Sunday, substituting in the readings and mass parts for the feast day instead of those for the Sunday as typically celebrated.
Have you ever wondered why St. Francis is our patron saint? According to the 1997 document compiled by parishioner Jerry Smith, “History of St. Francis Episcopal Church,” two options were considered:
“St. Francis of the Hills was brought forward as a potential name because of the importance of the Franciscan order in the Eureka Area and the local Shrine of the Dark Madonna. Members also liked the Franciscan values of mission, unity and simplicity. Members who liked the name St. Christopher’s, focusing on Eureka being on interstate 44, its notoriety as the home of Six Flags, and the fact that most of these new members were themselves sojourners on this new venture, felt that it was fitting to name this new church after the patron saint of travelers. In May of 1990 Bishop Jones approved the name and St. Francis’ Episcopal Church was officially born.”