By On Wednesday, Oct. 4, 20 humans and their non-human companions gathered around the Sladdich Fountain for the annual Blessing of the Animals.
This tradition is a celebration of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of non-human animals.
For the Rev. Tyler Frohlich, who blessed the animals, the blessing is an opportunity to acknowledge the spirituality of St. Francis.
“St. Francis was concerned with seeing Christ in all things,” said Frohlich. “He had a particular eye for seeing God in creation, but his motive was never about only seeing creation only for itself, but seeing the Creator in it. Blessing the animals helps me to see God in all things, especially in the companionship of animals.”
Allison Bullman, an anthrozoology junior from Billings, Montana, thought the blessing was a unique event in lieu of Carroll’s Catholic faith. God pronouns are not capped.
“I would say [the blessing] is pretty special to Carroll as a part of the Catholic traditions that Carroll upholds,” said Bullman. “I have never seen anything else like it.”
Bullman brought her Anthrozoology program foster dog, Tequila, to the blessing. Tequila is a mixed breed, most likely a mix between a herding breed and a pitbull, and is a relatively new addition to the Anthrozoology foster program.
The day was beautiful and gusty for those who attended the blessing. While everyone else gathered in a circle with their animal companions, Frohlich prayed over the animals in attendance, as well as over all animals.
Frohlich then walked around the circle and blessed each animal in turn, sprinkling them with water.
Frohlich said the blessing is important to helping humanity recognize that other animals are gifts from God.
“In acknowledging all living things as coming from the creator himself, humanity can understand God’s Love in a deeper way,” said Frohlich. “Animals, in their being, show themselves to be gifts of God’s Love for humanity.”
Attendees included several Anthrozoology students with their program dogs, Anthrozoology professors Marie Suthers and Margo DeMello with their dogs, a few Carroll students with their service animals, and several members of the Helena community with their dogs.
All in all, about half a dozen dogs and one gecko were present at the blessing.
“This year, blessing the Gecko was a new one for me,” said Frohlich. “That was pretty fun.”
One of the attendees, Grace Carter, a senior Anthrozoology major from Vacaville, California, has attended the Blessing of the Animals in previous years and says that it was a special Carroll tradition to recognize the precious bond between humans and nonhuman animals.
“It highlights the wonderful creatures we are so blessed to have with us and cherish them in a unique way on campus,” said Carter. “After being a part of the blessing many times, it’s become a time for me to recognize all of the amazing animals that people get to work with in the Anthrozoology department.”
Carter brought her 5-month-old yellow labrador, Rufus, to the blessing.
Rufus is a Canine Companions service dog in training whom Carter has been working with since he was eight weeks old. Rufus is Carter’s Anthrozoology program dog as well as a part of Carroll’s Collar Scholars Club.
“I have been to a few blessings, but I think Carroll’s is special because of the fact that we are both a Catholic college and the home of one of the first anthrozoology programs in the world,” said DeMello. “We are participating in a very old tradition that grew out of love for animals, so it always makes me happy!”
DeMello came to the blessing with her Chihuahua, Layla, whom she adopted from a rescue organization.
“She is my sidekick, so she goes everywhere with me,” said DeMello.
Bullman also provided insight into the value of the blessing to Carroll’s Anthrozoology program.
“It was important to us anthrozoology majors to help spread the word about what our major is all about,” said Bullman. “I have seen that there are some Carroll students and staff who still don’t quite understand what anthrozoology is and all that we do, so having this blessing helps to connect us to other parts of Carroll so we can educate more people about anthrozoology.”
While the blessing was meaningful to the humans, the animals had mixed reactions to the afternoon’s events.
The dogs’ responses to being sprinkled with water by the Rev. Frohlich varied from being curious to remaining well-behaved to hiding behind their humans.
Carter didn’t think that Rufus saw the blessing as particularly significant.
According to Carter, Rufus thought the affair “was a weird event where he got splashed with some water and saw other animals. He was just kinda happy and excited to be there!”
Bullman noted that Tequila was nervous during the blessing, but Bullman hopes that “now that [Tequila] is blessed, she will be protected during her stay with us at Carroll.”
