Update on the Feast of St. Francis 2019
For over 125 years, our famously unfinished Cathedral has been a work in progress. Now is no different: currently we are undertaking the massive task of cleaning the entire Cathedral in the wake of a fire that occurred on April 14, Palm Sunday. Though the fire itself was small, the resulting smoke that filled the Cathedral left behind residue that, if left unattended, could create massive consequences for years to come.
The work is necessary but is not easy. We’ve had to make tough decisions about closing off parts of the building in order to be as efficient as possible, and many of the things we’re used to doing in a particular way will have to temporarily change in order to accommodate the necessary cleaning. This year, that also means we have to re-imagine our Feast of St. Francis and Blessing of the Animals.
We will still be celebrating St. Francis Day this year! After weeks of sketching out the ways we could reconfigure this beloved service in the spaces that will be available, the Dean of the Cathedral has determined that the best course of action will be to downsize the usual scope of the service this year, and instead look towards resuming our beloved tradition in 2020, by which time we anticipate the post-fire cleaning will have been long finished.
We’ll still have an 11 am Eucharist on October 6 that all are welcome to attend. While we will not have our Procession of Animals, pet blessings will happen as usual on the Pulpit Green immediately following the 11 am service and our outdoor fair with food trucks, vendors, and more will be there for all to enjoy.
More details will follow in the coming weeks. We look forward to seeing you on October 6 and we look forward to the first Sunday of October 2020 when St. Francis Day will be back and better than ever inside the Cathedral!