Relics and Masterpieces of St. Francis of Assisi, an exhibition that includes relics and artistic masterpieces that have left Italy for the first time in 800 years, opened October 16 at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco, California. Continuing through November 28, the exhibit is free and open to the public during specified hours.
Visitors may venerate a bandage stained with blood from the side wound of St. Francis. Being a part of the saint's mortal remains, the blood is a first-class relic, which is kept at La Verna in Italy, where Francis received the stigmata -- the wounds of Christ on his own body.
