Saints Peter and Paul Church, San Francisco facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Saints Peter and Paul Church |
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Saints Peter and Paul Church
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| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| District | Archdiocese of San Francisco |
| Province | Archdiocese of San Francisco |
| Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Parish |
| Leadership | Archbishop of San Francisco |
| Location | |
| Location | |
 Location in San Francisco
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| Architecture | |
| Completed | 1924 |
| Direction of façade | South |
Saints Peter and Paul Church (Italian: Ss. Pietro e Paolo, Chinese: 官話圣伯多禄圣保禄教堂; pinyin: Guānhuà Shèngbǎoluó Shèngbǐde Jiàotáng) is a Roman Catholic Church in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood. Located at 666 Filbert Street, it is directly across from Washington Square and is administered by the Salesians of Don Bosco. It is known as "la cattedrale italiana dell'Ovest", or the Italian Cathedral of the West (the use of the word "Cathedral" is merely colloquial, NOT an official designation), and has served as the home church and cultural center for San Francisco's Italian-American community since its consecration. It offers English, Italian, and Cantonese-language services.
History
The first Saints Peter and Paul Church, built in 1884 on the corner of Filbert Street and Grant Avenue, was destroyed by the Great Quake of 1906. Construction on the current building was completed in 1924.
During 1926–27, the church was the target of radical anti-catholic anarchists, who instituted five separate bomb attacks against the building in the space of one year. On March 6, 1927, police shot and killed one man and seriously wounded another, Celsten Eklund, a radical anarchist and local soapbox orator, as the two men attempted to light the fuse of a large dynamite bomb in front of the church. The dead man, known only as 'Ricca', was never fully identified; Eklund died of his wounds some time later without giving any information about his co-conspirators.
In recent years, Saints Peter and Paul has also become the home church for the city's Chinese-American Roman Catholic population, offering weekly masses in Italian, Cantonese, and English. Mass in Latin is offered monthly as well.
Saints Peter and Paul serves the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
