A collection of sacred relics and treasures tied to St. Francis of Assisi — the saint for whom San Francisco is named — is set to go on display at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption starting Friday, with organizers saying many of the objects are leaving Assisi for the first time in their history. The exhibition, running October 16 through November 28, includes a relic containing blood associated with St. Francis's stigmata, along with artifacts connected to St. Clare of Assisi.
According to stignatiussf.org, the cathedral will host the exhibition through the efforts of the Knights of St. Francis and the Archdiocese of San Francisco, who worked to bring the relics and treasures to the city. The cathedral's visitor hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except during weekday Mass from noon to 1 p.m. Among the items expected on view are the coperchio di Cimabue — a wooden cover that once protected the body of St. Francis — as well as his breviary and habit, the horn of the Sultan, and locks of St. Clare's hair.
Objects Never Before Seen Outside Italy
The exhibition's organizers describe the loan as unprecedented. Many of these objects have never before traveled outside Assisi, according to the California Missions Foundation. That same account notes the show will also include a historic portrait of St. Francis attributed to the medieval painter Cimabue, alongside replicas of all 21 California missions, tying the exhibit to the state's own Franciscan history. KRON4 reported that the relics traveled from Italy and that the exhibit is free to attend.
The San Francisco showing opened with a special celebration Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m., per the same California Missions Foundation report. From there, the cathedral's doors are set to remain open to visitors hoping to view and venerate the relics through late November.
A Citywide Anniversary Tied to a Papal Jubilee
The timing is no accident. The exhibition marks the 250th anniversary of San Francisco and the 800th anniversary of St. Francis's death, according to smcsf.org, the cathedral's own site, which also describes the city as having been named for and entrusted to the care of Saint Francis of Assisi. The showing also falls within a broader Year of St. Francis that Pope Leo XIV proclaimed to run from January 10, 2026, through January 10, 2027, stignatiussf.org reports.
The San Francisco exhibition follows a separate, larger milestone in Italy earlier this year. The mortal remains of St. Francis were publicly displayed in the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi for an extended monthlong period from February 22 through March 22 — the first time in eight centuries the remains had been exposed for an extended public veneration, according to the Catholic Register. Roughly 370,000 people from five continents had registered to venerate the relics during that Assisi display, the outlet reported, and visitors were required to make a free online reservation in advance, according to Vatican News.
No reservation requirement has been described for the San Francisco exhibition, which organizers have billed as free and open to the public during the cathedral's posted hours. For a city whose name and identity trace directly back to the 13th-century friar, the arrival of objects that have never left Assisi offers local residents a rare, close-up link to that history without having to cross an ocean to see it.
