Church of the Week: St. Patrick Church, San Francisco, CA

On a recent visit to San Francisco (with the lovely Robin and our grandchildren, Miles and Mia, above), I took an opportunity to pay a quick visit to the historic St. Patrick Church, seen in the background of the photo above. 

This Roman Catholic church, on Mission Street between Third and Fourth Streets, dates to California Gold Rush days. An earlier church building was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. It is sometimes called "the most Irish church in America." Its Irish flavor is apparent not only in its name but also in the Connemara marble of the church's pillars and interior walls, imported from Ireland, and in the stained glass windows that trace Irish history from pagan days to the time of St. Patrick, and depict the patron saints of each of Ireland's thirty-two counties.

The present building, which church deacon Virgil Capetti describes as modified English Gothic, or Gothic Revival, goes back to 1914. Today the church serves a multi-generational and multi-ethnic population, including Latino and Filipino residents. I took in just a minute or two of the homily during the 12:00 service.

St. Patrick Church is located at 756 Mission St. in San Francisco.