Relics of St Francis of Assisi and St Clare of Assisi will be available for veneration in San Francisco, California, for six weeks from mid-October through November, the first time they have left Italy in 800 years.
The relics travelling to San Francisco include his breviary, the blood of St Francis, a wooden cover believed to have once protected St Francis’s body, and locks of St Clare’s hair.
This year marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of San Francisco and the founding of Misión San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores) by St Junípero Serra, as well as the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis, notes the Archdiocese of San Francisco’s website.
