Best Religious Articles Stores San Francisco Near Me

4worldlovers: You can find us in the church adjacent to the campus-facing double door entryway to the sanctuary (in the former Manresa Gallery) during the following business hours:

** We will be closed from 1/3/23-1/6/23 and possibly 1/8/23 due to inclement weather forecasts.

Closed on Saturdays and the following holidays: New Year's Day; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; Presidents' Day; Good Friday; Memorial Day; Juneteenth; Independence Day; Labor Day; Thanksgiving (Thursday & Friday); and Christmas Day. We are also closed on University of San Francisco Graduation Days (Winter and Spring).

Our online shop is open 24/7. Pickup location for online orders is in the bookstore during business hours. Please wait for an email indicating your order is ready before picking up. Any online orders placed during holiday closures noted above will be fulfilled when the normal schedule resumes.

If you have any questions, please leave us a message by calling the shop at (415) 422-6008 and we will return your call as soon as we can. You may also contact us via email at inallthings@stignatiussf.org.

4worldlovers: Please check our current store hours on this page and any change in the future. Updated on1/20/2022

Is it that it fulfills a need? That it's a surprise? That it proves you know what they like? That it proves you have good taste? Is it in the beauty of function wedding form? Is it in the gesture itself? Is a gift great because it encourages, reassures, inspires, comforts? Because it's timely? Because it reminds them of the past or shapes the future? Because it makes them laugh? Because it feels good to give?

Whatever your reasons for giving, whether you're giving to yourself or to another, the gift is what makes the world go round. In this pivotal moment in the evolution of the earth, giving is more crucial than ever. We must remind ourselves and each other we're here, we're part of the earth community, and that we all have so much to give.

The gift is an exchange. We must come together to make it happen.

4worldlovers: Santa Muerte, called Mexico’s “holy death cult,” is growing—and spreading. Followers in the Mission District of San Francisco say they pray to la Santa for health, work and love.

This place might look a little weird from the outside, but it's really a wonderful place with the right sort of mood. They have EVERYTHING you might possibly need in the way of candles, oils, incense, baths, powders, charms, and soaps. They have a lot of Orisha items and this is one of the few local places where I can find Santa Muerte candles and supplies. All of their prayer cards and books seem to be in Spanish, but who doesn't have a Spanish speaking friend who can help translate? They also have the best prices on everything, and they have brands other than Indio. Their candle burning altars are really powerful. This seems to be the only botanica on the face of the planet that is open seven days a week.

Everyday Sandra Orosco lights a candle and prays to her chosen saint — an ordinary act in the Mission District or anywhere with a Latin American population.

To Orosco, her lady saint is the most powerful. She offers protection and guidance rather than stiff judgment. And indeed this saint is extraordinary. Like most saints, she is adorned in a flowing robe and sometimes holds a globe in her hand and pendulum in the other — but her fingers are skeletal and her face is a human skull.

Those unfamiliar might mistake her for the Grim Reaper but to Orosco and a growing number of devotees she is an angel from God. They call her La Santa Muerte — Saint Death or Holy Death.

La Santa Muerte is a symbolic personification of death and a popular saint not condoned by the Catholic Church. While Mexico has many such folk saints, devotion for her has spread rapidly and widely.

In Mexico, there are now nearly 5 million followers. Despite a growing number of artists, intellectuals, politicians and actors have who have become followers, the largest base remains among those economically and socially marginalized. They include many who live dangerous lives—drug traffickers, police, gang members, prisoners and sex workers.

The growing movement in Mexico has met increased opposition from the Roman Catholic Church and the government.

In March 2009, the Mexican army bulldozed several Santa Muerte places of worship they alleged were criminal hideouts. The government claims that worship of Santa Muerte is a national security threat that supports the narco trade.

In northern Mexico — the frontline of the narco war — there are thousands of shrines to Santa Muerte. Her artifacts there are starting to outnumber those of Guadalupe, Mexico’s indigenous image of the Virgin Mary. Like Guadalupe, Santa Muerte has been celebrated in corridos and even a popular film.

Now migrant communities are bringing their devotion to the U.S. Here in the Mission, Orosco, 44, opened a small botanica on 24th Street near Shotwell nearly eight months ago.

Scholars have various theories over the origin of Santa Muerte. Some say she comes from the ancient beliefs of pre-Columbian Mexicas. Others say the belief is based on religious practices imported from African slaves via the Caribbean and some claim its roots are medieval Europe. But to Orozco, these kinds of details are trivial and miss the point.

“She has always been here,” Orosco said emphatically when asked when Santa Muerte arrived in the Mission. “She was already here but there was no location for it.”

Originally from Jalisco, Mexico, Orosco learned about the saint when she was 25 years old and has devoted herself to her ever since.

Orosco has entered into “twenty-two blood pacts” with Santa Muerte. She considered this a personal matter, however, and didn’t want to discuss the details, but she did add that these pacts give her a mark of respect and proclaim her sincerity to those who come by her store.

“People ask if you have some pacts with Santa Muerte and if you don’t have it, they go,” she said.

There is little doubt that Orosco commands respect. A direct and confident woman who spoke no English, she started working at a nearby flower shop with just a handful of Santa Muerte candles. Over time, she witnessed firsthand the increase of people seeking advice and instruction on how to pray and ask for favors from Santa Muerte.

“Most people come to ask for something like a job, something specific,” she said.