1906croppedPostcardPrayerBookCrossCliftonMacon

The Prayer Book Cross, sometimes called the Sir Francis Drake Cross, is a large stone

Celtic cross upright 0.75 , A Celtic cross symbol The Celtic cross is a form of ringed cross, a Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring, that emerged in the British Isles and Western Europe in the Early Middle Ages. It became widespread through its u ...

sculpture in

Golden Gate Park Golden Gate Park is an urban park between the Richmond District, San Francisco, Richmond and Sunset District, San Francisco, Sunset districts on the West Side (San Francisco), West Side of San Francisco, California, United States. It is the Lis ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Dedicated in 1894, it commemorates

Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( 1540 – 28 January 1596) was an English Exploration, explorer and privateer best known for making the Francis Drake's circumnavigation, second circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580 (bein ...

’s landing in

New Albion New Albion, also known as ''Nova Albion'' (in reference to Albion, an archaic name for Great Britain), was the name of the continental area north of Mexico claimed by Sir Francis Drake for Kingdom of England, England when he landed on the Nort ...

at nearby

Drakes Bay Drakes Bay ( Coast Miwok: ''Tamál-Húye'') is a bay along the Point Reyes National Seashore on the coast of northern California in the United States, approximately northwest of San Francisco at approximately 38 degrees north latitude. The ...

and the first use of the

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...

in what would become the United States.

Concept and support

The Cross was conceived as an acknowledgment that California, not the U.S. east coast, was the founding location of

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

and that several ecclesiastical "firsts" had been observed just north of San Francisco. The Cross acknowledges that Drake's chaplain, Francis Fletcher, celebrated the first Protestant service, that of the Church of England, on or about

Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day (), also known in English as ''St John the Baptist Day'', is a holiday celebrated on June 24 in the Canadian province of Quebec. It was brought to Canada by French settlers celebrating the traditional feast day of the Na ...

, June 24, 1579 (

Old Style Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, they refer to the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries betwe ...

). This corresponds to July 4 in the modern calendar. The original plan was for the Cross to be placed from the

Point Reyes Lighthouse The Point Reyes Lighthouse, also known as Point Reyes Light or the Point Reyes Light Station, is a lighthouse in the Gulf of the Farallones on Point Reyes in Point Reyes National Seashore, located in Marin County, California, United States. T ...

. Instead, the Cross was built to coincide with the San Francisco Midwinter Fair of 1894. The Prayer Book Cross was paid for by

George William Childs George William Childs (May 12, 1829 – February 3, 1894) was an American publisher who co-owned the '' Public Ledger'' newspaper in Philadelphia with financier Anthony Joseph Drexel. Early life Childs was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on May ...

, a

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

publisher, advocate for the Union during the Civil War and philanthropist.

Construction

The monument is constructed on a pedestal of stone square and in height. The Cross is high. It is made of 68 pieces weighing . The arms are formed of eight pieces weighing each. The blue sandstone came from a quarry in

Colusa County, California Colusa County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,839. The county seat is Colusa. It is in the northern Sacramento Valley, northwest of the state capital, Sacramento. Histo ...

. Construction began on November 4, 1892. The second arm stone was erected on 19 December 1893.

Text

The text on the stone's front is "Presented to Golden Gate Park at the opening of the Mid-Winter Fair January 1 AD 1894, as a memorial of the service held on the shore of Drakes Bay about Saint John Baptist’s Day, June 24 Anno Domini 1579 by Francis Fletcher, Priest of the Church of England, Chaplain of Sir Francis Drake, chronicler of the service." The text on the back is "First Christian Service in the English Tongue On Our Coast, First Use of the Book of Common Prayer in Our Country, One of the First Recorded Missionary Prayers On Our Continent, SOLI DEO SIT SEMPER GLORIA."

Dedication

The Cross was dedicated on January 1, 1894. H. M. de Young, director-general of the Midwinter Exposition was the master of ceremonies. He introduced Bishop

William Ford Nichols William Ford Nichols (June 9, 1849 – June 5, 1924) was the second Bishop of California in The Episcopal Church. Early life and education William Ford Nichols was born in Lloyd, New York, on June 9, 1849, to Charles Hubert Nichols and Margaret ...

as the representative of the donor. Bishop Nichols pulled the cord which withdrew the flag covering the monument and thus presented the Cross to the commissioners of Golden Gate Park. Mr. W. W. Stow, Park Commissioner remarked on the large interest in the Midwinter Fair. George Davidson spoke on the history of Drake and his landing at Drakes Bay.

Later use

Annual celebration described

Episcopal services have been held at the Cross on many occasions including 1906, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1924, 1931, and 1942 Several Episcopal congregations held pilgrimages to the Prayer Book Cross. These included 1951, and St. Columba's from Inverness in 1952. The 400th anniversary of the Book of Common Prayer led to the triennial General Convention of The Episcopal Church being held in San Francisco with the Cross as a prominent feature.

References