About St. Sylvester · San Rafael, California
St. Sylvester Chapel is a Catholic mission chapel of St. Raphael Parish, tucked into the Glenwood neighborhood of East San Rafael, California, on Point San Pedro Road near San Pablo Bay. Operated under the Archdiocese of San Francisco and sharing clergy with the mother parish in downtown San Rafael, it serves the Catholic faithful of the bayside Glenwood community with a single Saturday Vigil Mass at 4:30 PM. The current chapel stands inside a building with a long local story — once the McNear School for children of the McNear brickyard workers in the early 1900s, then a developer's tract office after World War II, before Archbishop John Joseph Mitty purchased it in 1957 and reopened it as a mission chapel.
- Established
- 1957
- Patron
- St. Sylvester I, Pope and Confessor (Pope Sylvester I)
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of San Francisco (Metropolitan Archdiocese of San Francisco)
Why belong here
St. Sylvester Chapel offers Catholics in the Glenwood and East San Rafael neighborhood an intimate, community-sized place to worship close to home, without the commute to the main church downtown. As a mission of St. Raphael Parish, it shares in the larger parish's sacramental life and bilingual/multicultural reach while keeping a small, neighborhood feel — a chapel whose roots run back to the original McNear brickworkers' schoolhouse and that has served Bay-side Catholic families for nearly 70 years.
Mass times at St. Sylvester
Weekly Mass schedule
History of St. Sylvester Chapel
St. Sylvester's roots run back to the early 1900s, when a one-room schoolhouse on Point San Pedro Road taught the children of McNear brickyard workers. It was known as the McNear School or San Pedro School. After the war it became a tract sales office for the Glenwood subdivision before Archbishop Mitty bought it in 1957 and it was reborn as a Catholic mission chapel.
Early Catholic Use (1920)
In April 1920, Rev. T.J. Brennam of St. Raphael's Parish received permission from Mr. A.J. McNear to use the schoolhouse after hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays for First Communion instruction — the earliest documented religious activity at the building.
- McNear School / San Pedro School origins
- Rev. T.J. Brennam's First Communion catechism classes (1920)
Reopening as a Mission (1957)
On March 23, 1957 Archbishop John Joseph Mitty purchased the building and ten acres as a parish site. Volunteers made light alterations; the city approved the building in September 1957; St. Raphael Parish supplied the altar, furnishings and seating for one hundred. The first Mass — celebrated by Rev. Daniel McAlister on Sunday, September 8, 1957 — drew 96 attendees, and a weekly Sunday 10 AM Mass followed for the Glenwood community.
- Purchase by Archbishop Mitty (March 23, 1957)
- City approval and interior conversion (September 1957)
- First Mass by Rev. Daniel McAlister (September 8, 1957, 96 in attendance)
- Weekly Sunday 10:00 AM Mass begun for Glenwood residents
Connection to St. Raphael Parish
St. Sylvester Chapel is a mission site of St. Raphael Parish in downtown San Rafael. Saint Raphael Parish describes itself as a multi-lingual and multicultural Catholic parish, with Sunday Masses celebrated in four languages, and it also operates St. Raphael Elementary and PreSchool alongside the main church, Mission San Rafael Arcángel, and St. Sylvester Chapel. Chapel administration, sacramental records and clergy flow through St. Raphael.
- Mission chapel of St. Raphael Parish
- Shares the parish's multi-lingual ministry (parish-wide)
- Phone and sacramental inquiries directed to St. Raphael Parish: (415) 454-8141
The Patron: St. Sylvester I, Pope
The chapel is named for St. Sylvester I, who governed the Church as pope from 314 to 335 AD — the first pope to reign entirely under the liberty granted to the Church by Constantine's Edict of Milan (313). During his pontificate the great Constantinian basilicas were begun in Rome, and the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (325) condemned Arianism. He is honored in the Western Church on December 31.
- Reigned 314–335 AD
- Feast day December 31 (Western), January 2 (Eastern)
- Patron of the Sylvestrine Benedictines and the chivalric Order of St. Sylvester
Visit & Contact
The chapel sits at 1115 Point San Pedro Road in the Glenwood neighborhood of East San Rafael, looking out toward San Pablo Bay. Because it is a small mission chapel, all inquiries — including sacramental questions — are handled through St. Raphael Parish, which shares the same phone line.
- Address: 1115 Point San Pedro Road, San Rafael, CA 94901
- Phone: (415) 454-8141 (St. Raphael Parish office)
- Website: saintraphael.com/st-sylvester-chapel
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Rev. Daniel McAlister1957
Pastor of St. Raphael Parish who celebrated the first Mass at St. Sylvester's Mission on September 8, 1957, reportedly with 96 in attendance.
- Rev. T.J. Brennam1920
Priest of St. Raphael's Parish who obtained permission from A.J. McNear to use the old schoolhouse for First Communion instruction — the earliest recorded Catholic activity at the site.