This year’s Woolwich Day, set for Saturday, Aug. 1, will again feature the Blessing of the Animals on the lawn of the Nequasset Meetinghouse opposite the town office and fire station.

The Rev. Dr. Alan Baughcum, pastor of the Day's Ferry Congregational Church, will conduct the ceremony that will begin at 10 a.m. The occasion is one that Baughcum is looking forward to. This will be the fourth year he’s conducted the ceremony. This November also marks his fourth anniversary as pastor of the Day’s Ferry Congregational Church, a part of the United Church of Christ. In 2008 the landmark church at 50 Old Stage Road celebrated its 175th anniversary.  

The traditional Blessing of the Animals is usually associated with St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals. St. Francis started the practice 800 years ago, although some say it goes back even further, to the time of Noah and the Great Flood.

Baughcum said here in the U.S., the annual Blessing of the Animals is often held on or close to Oct. 4 to commemorate the death of St. Francis in 1226. On this day services celebrating animals are held at churches and places of worship from coast-to-coast.

Woolwich’s ceremony is a little earlier than the traditional day, but Baughcum said the purpose is the same: to give thanks for all of God’s creatures great and small.

The blessing also celebrates the special bond people have with their pets.

“Our pets are a very important part of our lives. We provide for them and in return they give us their devotion and loyalty,” he added.  

For many people a dog or cat might be their only companion.

“Our service is pretty low-key,” Baughcum continued. “We say a prayer and sing a hymn and then I go around and lay my hand on each pet and give a blessing to them and their owner.”

In days of yore farmers often brought their cow or horse for the traditional blessing. This hasn’t happened yet at Woolwich Day where past blessings have been mostly for dogs, although Baughcum said last year he offered a blessing to a picture of a cat. At his previous church in Belmont, Massachusetts, he said he once gave a blessing to a ferret.

Baugheum was asked if he believed the gates of heaven were open to animals.

“God promises to renew all of his creations. Although I can’t say for a fact, I do believe I’ll see Bubba again. He was our Bernese mountain dog who my wife and I loved very dearly. We had him nine years before he became sick and we had to put him down.”

All pets are welcome to the Blessing of the Animals, but for safety sake, they should be leashed or caged.

“I insist on pet snakes being contained, I have a kind of snake phobia,” Baughcum admitted.