Ancient relics including an 800-year-old bloodstained bandage of St. Francis of Assisi have arrived in San Francisco for an ultra-rare public show.
Two sacred Catholic relics — including a fabric stained with the blood of the thirteenth century saint and an Italo-Byzantine type painted panel that once coated his tomb — are now on show at St. Mary’s Cathedral of the Assumption after leaving Italy for the first time.
Worshippers enter the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco, Calif., Thursday, May 8, 2025, following the information that Cardinal Robert Prevost of the United States has been named Pope Leo XIV. San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
Ancient relics including a bloody fabric of St. Francis of Assisi are on show at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco. ABC 7
The bloody fabric, encased in a silver reliquary, is linked to one of the most well-known mystical encounters acknowledged by Catholics.
After 40 days of fasting, St. Francis of Assisi — the Italian friar, animal lover and patron saint of San Francisco — is believed to have obtained the holy stigmata, or spontaneous bleeding representing the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ, on La Verna in Italy, utilizing the crude bandage to stanch the blood.
Rarely seen stays of the beloved friar were publicly displayed this 12 months at the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi, Italy to mark the 800-year anniversary of the saint’s demise, a particular jubilee 12 months declared by Pope Leo XIV.
A person lights candles at the altar forward of a daytime mass at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco, Thursday, May 8, 2025, following the information that Cardinal Robert Prevost of the United States has been named as Pope Leo XIV. San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
A common view exhibits the stays of St. Francis of Assisi on public show to mark the 800th anniversary of his demise in the decrease church of the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Assisi, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. Born in the twelfth century, the revered Christian determine is recognized for renouncing his wealth and founding the Franciscan order. Getty Images
The San Francisco show was organized with the assist of the Knights of Saint Francis of Assisi, a Catholic lay group based by legal professional and former politician Angela Alioto, to have a good time the jubilee 12 months of their namesake saint.
“Again, these relics have not left italy in 800 years, and they won’t be back anytime soon. So please do the best you can and getting over to see this incredible little museo,” Alioto wrote on social media.
It’s thought-about a “second class” in the Catholic Church, or an merchandise belonging to a saint— as opposed to direct stays, like the fragmented kneecaps and ribs of St. Bernadette Soubirous that are also touring the US this 12 months.
The Catholic custom of venerating relics dates back to 156 A.D.
Universal Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
A Fifteenth-century portray depicting Saint Francis of Assisi, created by Francesco Francia, is half of the assortment of the Galleria Borghese in Rome. Getty Images
The other relic is a full-length picture of Saint Francis is historically attributed to Italian painter Cenni di Pepo, and options a golden rendering of the famed saint.
In the picture, Francis stands in the easy brown behavior of the Friars Minor with a golden halo, a e book, and the stigmata wounds.
Additional artwork items on show embody Painting of the Veil of St. Clare of Assisi; Renaissance work by Dono Dori, The Stigmata of St. Francis and Crucifixion of St. Francis of Assisi; St. Francis Watched Over by the Angels by an nameless seventeenth century painter; and St. Francis by Adamo di Cladaro.
The relics will be on show through Nov. 28.
Source hyperlink
