St. Francis of Assisi Exhibition Comes to San Francisco Cathedral
As San Francisco celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding in 2026, another extraordinary anniversary will be commemorated at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption. Beginning with a special opening celebration on October 14 and continuing for six weeks, the Cathedral will host a major exhibition honoring St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint for whom San Francisco was named. The exhibition coincides with the worldwide commemoration of the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis in 1226 and will bring together sacred relics, religious art, historic objects and California mission history.
The concept and celebration are being spearheaded by Angela Alioto, former president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, founder and International Director of the Knights of St. Francis, and a passionate advocate for the historic and spiritual relationship between San Francisco and Assisi. Alioto personally traveled to Assisi, Italy, where she worked directly with Franciscan representatives to help secure the participation of these extraordinary objects and assure the safe transport of the St. Francis relics that will be displayed in San Francisco. Her personal commitment, passion and energy have been instrumental in bringing the exhibition together and strengthening the ties between the two cities during this historic anniversary year.
Also instrumental in making this extraordinary commemoration possible are the Knights of St. Francis of Assisi, whose dedication and involvement have been central to the planning and organization of the exhibition and its related events. Working closely with Alioto and others involved in the project, the Knights have helped bring together the many elements necessary to honor St. Francis in the city that bears his name. Their participation reflects their continuing commitment to preserving and promoting the spiritual, cultural and historical legacy of St. Francis and to maintaining San Francisco’s special relationship with Assisi.
The exhibition will formally open with a special celebration at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption on Wednesday, October 14, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Actor Joe Mantegna is scheduled to serve as master of ceremonies for the evening, which will launch the six-week exhibition and bring together participants and supporters of the commemoration. An official delegation from Assisi, together with Franciscan, religious, diplomatic, civic and community representatives, is expected to participate, underscoring the special relationship between the Italian birthplace of St. Francis and the American city that bears his name. The opening celebration is being presented with the important involvement of the Knights of St. Francis of Assisi as part of the larger commemoration of the 800th anniversary.
At the heart of the exhibition will be an extraordinary collection of sacred relics, treasures and works of art associated with St. Francis, St. Clare and the early Franciscan movement. Many of these objects have never before traveled outside Assisi, making their presence in San Francisco a rare event in the centuries-long history of the Franciscan tradition. Together they will provide visitors with tangible connections to the lives of Francis and Clare and to a spiritual movement that began in Assisi more than eight centuries ago.
Among the most extraordinary objects announced for the exhibition is a historic portrait of St. Francis attributed to Cimabue. Created within living memory of the saint’s death and associated with his tomb, the image provides an unusually early representation of Francis and serves simultaneously as an important work of medieval sacred art and an object intimately connected with his remembrance. Other early portraits and works of Franciscan art will help visitors see how the image and story of Francis were preserved and transmitted in the centuries immediately following his death.
Among the most sacred objects traveling to San Francisco is a relic containing blood associated with the stigmata of St. Francis. In 1224, two years before his death, Francis received the wounds of Christ while praying at La Verna, an event that became one of the defining episodes of his life and of Franciscan spirituality. The presence of a relic associated with the blood of the stigmata gives the San Francisco exhibition particular spiritual significance and provides an extraordinary physical connection to one of the most important events in the life of St. Francis.
The exhibition will also include remarkable treasures associated with St. Clare of Assisi, Francis’s contemporary and spiritual collaborator and the founder of the Poor Clares. Among the most significant is St. Clare’s breviary, containing writing and annotations attributed to Clare herself. Objects associated with Clare, including her veil, further broaden the exhibition beyond the life of Francis alone and help tell the story of the men and women who formed the earliest Franciscan community in Assisi.
The arrival of these treasures from Assisi is particularly meaningful in a city whose name and early history are so closely connected to St. Francis and the Franciscan order. Their presence in San Francisco is the result of considerable coordination and care, including Alioto’s personal involvement in Assisi to help ensure that the relics and sacred objects could be safely brought to California. For many of these treasures, their journey to San Francisco represents an exceptionally rare departure from the places in Italy where they have been preserved and venerated for centuries.
St. Francis died in 1226, leaving a spiritual legacy that has endured for 800 years. His teachings emphasized humility, peace, service to the poor, reconciliation and reverence for creation. The Franciscan movement that followed him spread throughout the world and, centuries later, reached Alta California. The 800th anniversary therefore provides an opportunity not only to remember the life and passing of St. Francis, but also to reflect upon the extraordinary influence his ideals have had across cultures, continents and generations.
The anniversary has taken on additional significance within the Catholic Church in 2026. Pope Leo XIV proclaimed a special Year of St. Francis extending from January 10, 2026, through January 10, 2027, in observance of the 800th anniversary of the saint’s death. Within the Archdiocese of San Francisco, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone has designated the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, Mission Dolores and the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi among the pilgrimage sites associated with this special Franciscan year.
A particularly significant California component of the Cathedral exhibition will be the display of replicas of all 21 California missions from the collection associated with the California Missions Museum at Cline Cellars. Together, the models will provide visitors with the unusual opportunity to see representations of the entire chain of California’s Franciscan missions in one setting. The historic mission models have long served as an educational presentation of California’s mission heritage, and their inclusion at the Cathedral creates a striking visual connection between the Franciscan movement that began in medieval Italy and the missions established along the California coast centuries later.
That connection takes on even greater meaning during San Francisco’s 250th anniversary year. Mission San Francisco de Asís, commonly known as Mission Dolores, was formally founded on October 9, 1776, during the same year in which the United States declared its independence. Named for St. Francis of Assisi, the mission and the nearby Presidio of San Francisco became central to the Spanish settlement from which the modern city developed. The exhibition therefore brings together two remarkable anniversaries: 800 years since the passing of St. Francis and 250 years since the founding era of San Francisco.
The exhibition also provides an opportunity to illustrate the remarkable geographic and historical journey of the Franciscan tradition. From Assisi in 13th-century Italy, the movement spread throughout Europe and eventually across the Atlantic to the Americas. In the 18th century, Franciscan missionaries established the mission system in Alta California, beginning at San Diego in 1769. Mission San Francisco de Asís followed seven years later, and ultimately 21 Franciscan missions would extend along the California coast. Displaying replicas of all 21 missions alongside objects and relics connected with St. Francis brings those centuries of history together in a particularly compelling way.
The Franciscan legacy remains visible throughout San Francisco today—in the city’s very name, at Mission Dolores, at the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, and through numerous institutions and traditions that continue to preserve the relationship between San Francisco and Assisi. The presence of the relics from Italy alongside the 21 California mission replicas will help visitors understand how a spiritual tradition born in a small Italian town more than eight centuries ago eventually became deeply woven into the history and identity of California.
Running for six weeks following the October 14 opening celebration, with the public exhibition scheduled from October 16 through November 28, the exhibition will provide residents and visitors with an exceptional opportunity to experience these different strands of history together. Through the sacred relics and treasures of St. Francis and St. Clare brought from Assisi, extraordinary works of Franciscan art, and the replicas of California’s 21 missions, the exhibition will celebrate the enduring connection among St. Francis, Assisi, the California missions and San Francisco. With the vision, passion and personal involvement of Angela Alioto, the instrumental support and dedication of the Knights of St. Francis of Assisi, and the special opening celebration on October 14, eight centuries of Franciscan history will come together in San Francisco during the city’s own historic 250th anniversary year.