Address: 105 South 2nd St. Dixon, CA 95620
Website: https://www.stpeterschurchdixon.com
Overview
The Gothic Revival church was built in 1915 as the second church of St. Peter the Apostle in Dixon, CA. The first church was a wood structure built in 1868 and was a mission of Suisun. In 1877, St. Peter’s became a parish and the growing community needed a bigger space. The result is the grand structure started in 1915 and completed in 1916 at a cost of $25,000. The twin-spired church features pointed-arch windows of the Gothic era with a front gable with overhanging eves of the Craftsman style. The interior is adorned with decorative murals, sacred statues and symbolic stained-glass windows of the era. The vibrant parish has five Sunday Masses, including three in the Spanish language.
Special things to see in the Church
• Three images of the patron St. Peter the Apostle: a life-size statue and a mural of the Saint accepting the keys to the kingdom on the left side altar; and a large blue stained-glass window on the façade bearing St. Peter flanked by St. John and one of the other Evangelists.
• A shrine for Our Lady of Guadalupe on the side of the vestibule which bears a replica image as she appeared on the tilma of St. Juan Diego in 1531. In front of the rectory is a glass-enclosed shrine with a scene of Our Lady’s appearance to St. Juan Diego with cactus plants nearby.
• Five stained glass windows line each wall of the nave. Each upper panel contains a sacred symbol such as a Eucharistic host, a papal tiara, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The windows contain opalescent and silver-stained glass with architectural columns on each side and a simple canopy topped with a fleur-de-lis.
• The church as several lovely statues and images for private devotion including: Jesus and His Sacred Heart, St. Joseph, Mary, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Mother of Perpetual Help, and Divine Mercy Jesus.
Interesting Fact About the Church
In the vestibule is a shrine to El Divino Nino (the Divine Child Jesus). It is a replica of a statue venerated since 1942 in Bogota, Columbia which is known to have miraculous powers of fertility and healing. The statue was located in a Bogota shop by a Salesian priest named Father Giovanni Rizzo who had a special devotion to the Child Jesus since having an apparition of Him in 1914. At that time, he was involved in building a new church, but the area was poor, and he had a vision of the Child who spoke to him, “Take me with you, I want to accompany you.” Mother Angelica of EWTN also had a special devotion to El Divino Nino and she had a statue of Him holding a Sacred Heart, placed in the courtyard of the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, in Hanceville, AL.
