This rock from Assisi, Italy, was used more than 800 years ago when St. Francis and his followers built the church where the Franciscan order was born. It will be installed on the altar of a replica of the church being built in San Francisco. CNS PHOTO/RICK DELVECCHIO/CATHOLIC SF

By Rick DelVecchio
Catholic News Service

SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) — Two Franciscan friars from Assisi, Italy, came to San Francisco last month bearing a rare gift for the city and the archdiocese: a small rock from the Porziuncola, the stone chapel built by St. Francis of Assisi and his early followers more than 800 years ago.

The rock’s final destination is a replica of the Porziuncola under construction at the National Shrine of St. Francis in North Beach. Possibly the first relic of the 13th-century saint to enter the United States, it will be installed on the altar of the sister Porziuncola.

The rock is to remain at the de Young Museum until the Porziuncola is dedicated Sept. 27 by Cardinal William J. Levada, head of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and former archbishop of San Francisco.

The 72 friars of the Assisi community met in 2006 and agreed to donate the rock, one of two that had been removed from the Porziuncola over the years during repairs and kept in the museum at the basilica that was built to enclose the chapel in the 1600s.

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