Tag Archives: Saints Peter & Paul Church

Sunlit Sunday…

San Francisco afforded me so many photos to share I’m joining Sunlit Sunday at My Little Home and Garden today.

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Looking up at Saints Peter and Paul church in San Francisco.

S.F. rain tour 040This was my second time to see this beautiful church. This time around I hopped off the bus for lunch in North Beach/Little Italy. My bus tour this day was rainy from beginning to end. So I didn’t take as many photos as my visit in 2008.

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This Romanesque splendor is often called the Italian Cathedral. Completed in 1924, the church has stone-white towers that are local landmarks. Mass reflects the neighborhood; it’s given in English, Italian, and Chinese. (This is one of the few churches in town where you can hear Mass in Italian.) Following their 1954 City Hall wedding, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio had their wedding photos snapped here. On the first Sunday of October, a Mass followed by a parade to Fisherman’s Wharf celebrates the Blessing of the (Fishing) Fleet. Also in October is the Italian Heritage Parade in North Beach. The country’s oldest Italian celebration, it began in 1869.

The first time I saw Saints Peter and Paul was in December of 2008. Click here to see my full post from my first thorough visit.

San Francisco ~ Saints Peter and Paul Church

There was so much to share from my extended weekend in San Francisco in December and then Christmas took over as it should. Now that life is a little slower I’ll share another beautiful church I visited.

The present church, with its twin lofty spires that soar 191 feet into the sky, was completed in 1924. For over a century, the church of SS. Peter and Paul has served parishioners, charmed the numerous tourists who visit it daily, and has been an inspiration to the members of the North Beach community. A ribbon of verse from Dante’s “Paradiso” spans the facade and translates:

 “The glory of Him who moves all things
penetrates and glows throughout the universe.”

This mosaic inscription placed just above the three entrances to the church connects the four large pillars upon which rest the symbols of the four Evangelists: Matthew (An angel), Mark (A lion), Luke (An ox) and John (An eagle). Original plans, regrettably laid away to rest, called for spectacular outdoor mosaics covering the entire facade. The twin spires (191 feet) have become a landmark in the area. The church is 100 feet wide and 160 feet long. The magnificent rose window measures fourteen feet in diameter.

 

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

San Francisco

 

I have so many photos I want to share from my 3 days in San Francisco. I’ll be choosing several over the next few days and will have a few San Francisco Posts. These are three collages I have already…

 

Our first day Dear and I met up at Johnny Foley’s for a pint and some great Lamb Sliders! Then we walked all about the town and ended up on the Trolley car. That’s our great trolley car driver! The roof shot is from the Ferry Building at the end of Market Street. It has lots of great specialty and gourmet shops housed in the building.

 

This is Saints Peter and Paul Church in the Italian Section of San Francisco. Since the Italians who came to North Beach in the 1870’s were primarily fishermen, it became known as “the Church of the Fishermen,” and yearly processions to bless the fishing fleet still start out here. I have more photos from the inside of this beautiful church to share later.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother.