Fishermen’s and Seamen’s Chapel

Fisherman’s Wharf
Pier 45 Inner Harbor

Built in 1979, this charming little chapel is a memorial to the memory of Bay Area fishermen who’ve lost their lives at sea. It’s also something of a touchstone for San Francisco’s mostly Italian, mostly Roman Catholic fishing community, which traces its origins to Sicilian immigrants from the early 1800s. The day I visited there was a notice that they offer the only full traditional Pre-Vatican II Traditional Latin Mass in the Bay Area.  Not the New Order Service of 1969, Not the half order Vatican II Service of 1962, but the full traditional Roman Catholic Latin Mass (1950).

Officially known as St. John the Apostle Oratory, the chapel received the blessing of the Archbishop of Palermo during a visit here in 1989. The tiny chapel, with its stained glass windows and separate campanile, offers a splendid escape Monday’s thru Friday’s.

On the first Saturday of October, it is home base for the Blessing of the Fleet, an age-old fisherman’s tradition.

One of the chapel’s most beautiful features is a stained glass window that was presented by the Women’s Propeller Club.

Although it was not open the day I visited, it is easy to look inside through the many windows.Plaques bearing the names of hundreds of men and women who have died at sea grace the chapel’s walls. Flags and banners from diverse religions hang from its vaulted ceiling.

According to the Oratory’s website:

The architect of the chapel is unknown.

The Oratory’s campanile, or bell-tower, rising seven meters from the deck and weighing nearly two metric tons, was installed in September 2006 and cost approximately $100,000. It is capped by a 300-kilogram ship’s bell installed in the tower, donated by the Port Authority of San Francisco from an historic ship.

The architect of the campanile was local architect Anthony Pataleoni. Mr. Pantaleoni was graduated from the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo in 1976 and was an instructor in the architectural department at the City College of San Francisco from 1982 to 1984. He is Principal Architect of Kotas/Pantaleoni Architects, of San Francisco.