Simbang Gabi Commissioning Mass marks start of traditional novena

Dec. 13, 2019

Catholic San Francisco

An entrance procession with flowers that would be placed at the cathedral Advent wreath opened the 12th annual Simbang Gabi Commissioning Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral Dec. 10.

Almost 1,000 worshippers including children made up the assembly. Parols, or traditional lanterns mostly star-shaped to evoke the Star of Bethlehem, led processions into the service. More than 50 parishes in the archdiocese will host Simbang Gabi early morning novena Masses Dec. 15-24. 

Simbang Gabi ("Mass at Night") is a devotional tradition from the Philippines that leads up to Christmas, a "novena of Masses" in the nine days preceding the birth of Christ.  These came to be known popularly as Misa Aguinaldo or also known as the Misa de Gallo (“Rooster’s Mass”) in Spanish, and these Masses are also more popularly known in Tagalog as Simbang Gabi (pronounced SimBONG GaBEE), or “Mass at Night.”

A video of the Mass and a list of participating parishes may be found at https://sfarchdiocese.org/events/.