Sacred art and history run deep through the grounds of St. Bernard Abbey. They also hang high.
The monks who live, pray and work in this community are serious about the responsibility they take for both.
“We’re the caretakers of everything that’s come before us,” the current abbot of the monastery founded by Bavarian Benedictine monks in 1891, the Right Rev. Marcus Voss, has said in past interviews.
Which is why Voss and other monks, including the director of development, Father Paschal Pautler, were assembled in the Abbey Church Tuesday, March 5, to witness an infrequent occurrence: the manual lowering of a nearly 400-pound cross over the main altar.
The cross that graces this altar is the work of Kentuckian liturgical artist Gloria Thomas. Painted on solid wood and outlined in gold, the crucifix is deeply imbued with tradition and symbolism, hallmarks of the artist’s “strong sense of medieval spirit.”
For the 20-plus years the cross has been hanging in the church it has also become imbued with something else — mold.
“We caught it just in time,” said Gary Chapman, an artist and retiring professor of painting and drawing at University of Alabama at Birmingham.
In addition to his own art and teaching, Chapman works as a professional art restorer who is the process of relocating his business and studio, GC Art Restore, from Birmingham to Cullman County.
That resume and a previous connection to the county’s Roman Catholic community led to his donning a face mask and climbing a ladder March 5 to tackle the first steps in saving the Great Cross, or hanging rood, of St. Bernard Abbey.
To access the cross, even atop a ladder, requires first lowering the cross from its perch above the altar. The cross itself is suspended by aircraft cable, and the process of raising or lowering is done manually by two men working boat winches in the church attic.
Once he was able to reach it March 5, Chapman began the first phase of restoring the cross to its original form, surface cleaning.
“Fortunately, the mold hadn’t penetrated the paint,” Chapman said several hours later, after a cleaning that made visible and dramatic improvements to the appearance of the cross.
But even so, the work wouldn’t be finished that day. Because mold spores are microscopic, cleaning what you can see is not enough to preserve a painting, the restorer said.
Once Chapman has set up his new studio, sometime in mid-spring, he will again have the cross lowered, but this time to take it fully down to move to his own workspace where he can use a hydroxol generator’s ultraviolet light to kill any remaining mold.
Then, Chapman will begin a lengthy process to ensure the cross’s luster and longevity.
“I’ll be using two coats of a varnish, and that’ll take about a month to complete,” he said.
The result? A Great Cross that will “last for hundreds of years,” the artist said.
Because of Chapman’s impending accessibility, Father Paschal is hoping that other sacred works of the abbey will be able to receive the same needed treatment, continuing the caretaking begun by his Benedictine brothers more than 130 years ago. Those wishing to contribute to the monastery’s art restoration fund can contact the monk at 256-727-2284.
For now, the cross above the main altar in the Abbey Church is again back in place, but with a more noticeable sheen. Still, the monks of St. Bernard Abbey and Chapman are looking forward to its full restoration.
“This is one of the more exciting projects I’ve worked on,” Chapman said.