Annual Rosary Rally Procession
with Feast Day Vigil Mass

Procession to Cathedral, Vigil Mass for St. Francis of Assisi, and Candlelight Rosary Procession

This will be the tenth annual Rosary Rally since the practice of this special day of group prayer was revived in San Francisco in 2011, after an absence of fifty years. This year, with pandemic public-health regulations in place, all group prayer and liturgies and gatherings for worship have been affected.

The Rosary Rally will be observed this year with a Vigil Mass for the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, patron of the Archdiocese and the city. Praying the Rosary is a feature of our “ Living the Consecration” of the Archdiocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. All are welcome to come and plead for the intercession of the Virgin Mary and of St. Francis, for a reopening of churches in the city, and for an end to the pandemic. Social distancing and public-health protocols will be observed at all times; wearing of a mask is required. The schedule is:

• 6:00 pm Procession:  A candlelight procession (candles will be supplied) will be led by Archbishop Cordileone from St. Anthony of Padua Church (Folsom St. at Cesar Chavez) and will arrive at St. Mary's Cathedral. The procession will go straight up Van Ness Avenue and cross over at O'Farrell Street to the Cathedral.
• 7:00 pm Mass on Cathedral Plaza:  Archbishop Cordileone will celebrate the Vigil Mass for the October 4 Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. The Mass will be held outside, on the cathedral plaza. Mass will be bilingual (English and Spanish). All priests of the archdiocese are invited to concelebrate. Worshipers who overflow from the plaza will be able to hear Mass through the external audio equipment; and Communion will be distributed to them. 
• Candelight Rosary: At the conclusion of the Mass, the faithful, with lighted candles, will pray the rosary outside the Cathedral. 

[Note: Space for parking in cathedral lots will be limited; please carpool or take public transport if possible.]

---

BREAKING NEWS, SEPTEMBER 29: 

On September 29, the City of San Francisco raised its ceiling on attendance in a house of worship to match the limit imposed by the State of California, which continues to be 100 persons. Archbishop Cordileone has responded:

“ October 3, the Vigil Feast of San Francisco’s patron saint, St. Francis of Assisi, will now, instead of a public manifestation of faith to urge fair treatment, be a united prayer of thanksgiving from the heart of San Francisco’s Catholics.... Our petition effort, though, is not ended. The state of California’s limit of no more than 100 people inside of a house of worship regardless of the size of the building is still unjust. We want and we intend to worship God safely: with masks, social distancing, sanitation, ventilation, and other such safety protocols.  But we will not accept believers being treated more severely than other, comparable secular activities...."
(Read his full statement here.)

---

The Rosary Rally: Watch VIDEO HISTORY

The San Francisco Rosary Rally was reborn in 2011.  Fifty years earlier, in 1961, Fr. Patrick Peyton's Family Rosary Crusade had drawn over 500,000 people to Golden Gate Park. In 2011, members of the San Francisco Legion of Mary decided to commemorate Fr. Peyton's gathering with a revived rally. The 2011 event drew two thousand of the faithful to Civic Center Plaza to listen to inspirational speakers, recite the rosary, and pray for the strengthening of family life. The Rosary Rally in San Francisco is now an annual event.

Watch the 1961 Rosary Rally on YouTube:


 

---